LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A former Skechers USA Inc. employee sued the footwear and apparel company Friday, alleging a supervisor kept her workload level high as she acquired carpal tunnel syndrome, pushed her to date his personal trainer and fired her in 2024 when she filed an internal complaint against him.
Cherelle Johnson’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges harassment disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and engage in the interactive process, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation and a violation of the state Labor Code.
A Skechers representative said the company does not comment on pending litigation.
Johnson was hired in March 2023 and later that month her supervisor suggested she date the boss’ personal trainer, the suit states.
“Despite plaintiff’s clear refusal to meet, go on a date with or otherwise become romantically involved with the trainer, (the supervisor) persisted,” even attempting to get the two to attend a jazz show together, the suit states.
Johnson, who refused to go to the show, later developed carpal tunnel syndrome and obtained work restrictions from her doctor, the suit states. Yet, her boss assigned her extra work, including a 180-page PowerPoint presentation which required additional typing, and accused the plaintiff of having an attitude when discussing her condition, the suit further alleges.
Johnson filed workers’ compensation papers and last spring was prescribed three medications to deal with rising blood pressure, the suit states. During that same time period, Johnson’s boss contended she failed to respond to email communications about a team-building event, according to the suit.
“Plaintiff was taken aback by this accusation as she had not seen any emails regarding the team-building event appear in her inbox,” the suit states, while adding that Johnson later found out she did not get the email due to a technical issue.
Johnson alleges that the supervisor was looking for a reason to discipline her and contends he made a similar effort a month later by asking her to handwrite an extensive amount of employee information and organize it within a binder.
Johnson, who filed an internal complaints about her supervisor, took last Oct. 24 off to deal with the stress, and the next day was fired, the suit states.
“Notably, plaintiff’s final check stub reflected available sick time that Skechers could have applied to her time-off requests to treat her medical condition, the suit states.
Johnson’s loss of her job has caused her severe emotional distress as well as medical expenses and substantial losses in both income and benefits, the suit alleges.
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