Lawsuit: Whole Foods failed to act on sexual harassment

Former cashier at Bay Area store alleges misconduct by supervisor

A former cashier at a Bay Area outlet of Amazon- owned upscale grocery chain Whole Foods suffered sexual harassment by a male supervisor from the first week of work but the company didn’t act on her complaints to management, she claims in a lawsuit

hole Foods did not respond to a request for comment.

Julianna Castaneda alleged that her shift supervisor made inappropriate sexual remarks to her al- most daily, and once sent her home for not wearing revealing- enough attire. She said in the suit that she worked at Whole Foods, bought by e- commerce giant Amazon in August 2017 for $14 billion, from February to October this year, in the store at California and Franklin streets in San Francisco.

Although she repeatedly told the supervisor not to make inappropri- ate remarks, he continued to do so, she alleged in the suit. He also touched her at work without her consent, caressing her waist “whenever he saw the opportunity,” the suit claimed.

He often called Castaneda “little girl,” professed his love for her, and used a vulgar term to describe what other men wanted to do to her, while asserting that he wanted to “make love” to her, she claimed in the suit. She was making $15.50 an hour, according to the suit, filed Tuesday in San Francisco County Superior Court.

Castaneda alleged that she reported the man’s behavior to management several times, but the company took no action in response. After her final complaint to management October 8, she was suspended the following day before being fired days later, the suit claimed.

One reason the company gave for sacking her was that she hadn’t reported the alleged harassment in a timely way, the suit alleged. Another reason given was the acceptance by Castaneda, who was under 21, of a bottle of alcohol as a gift from the supervisor, the suit claimed.