LIHUE — Marriott International will have to defend itself against sexual-harassment and invasion-of-privacy claims in a class-action lawsuit filed last year, after female employees at a Kauai resort allegedly discovered a male coworker had been recording them using the bathroom and changing clothes in the hotel employees’ locker room.
A Fifth Circuit judge on Thursday ruled to allow attorneys representing six female employees of the Kauai Marriott Resort &Beach Club in Lihue to file an amended complaint that will bring three additional counts against the hotel chain and its subsidiary, Essex House Condominium Corporation.
Two of the new charges the hotel chain now faces — invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress — were initially brought only against the Marriott employee who allegedly did the filming. The other new count — sexual harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex — was added to the lawsuit.
When the lawsuit was filed in September 2018, it brought counts of negligence, vicarious liability and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Marriott, but the more serious charges named only Alan Ganir, a housekeeping worker at the Kauai Marriott.
Ganir was arrested on Sept. 1 and later fired from the hotel, but according to evidence submitted by the plaintiffs, the women later realized they had been unknowingly recorded for well over a year in spite of complaints to hotel management by numerous female employees about the women’s locker room.
Ganir has been charged in criminal court with one count of first-degree violation of privacy — his trial is set for April 29 — but the civil claim includes more extensive charges and alleges Ganir’s employers are liable for the actions of its employee.
The amended complaint accuses the hotel of fostering a workplace environment that is hostile toward women, allowing “severe and pervasive” sexual harassment.
A Facebook post from May 2017 shows a tissue box with a small hole for a camera lens behind a toilet in the women’s locker room. Four out of five stalls in the locker room had been locked from the inside, forcing the women to use the one remaining stall, where the camera had been placed and the toilet seat had been removed.
The lawsuit states that despite employees’ written complaints, “the situation in the bathroom continued several nights per week, on a regular basis.”
Marriott’s legal representatives declined to comment on the case following Thursday’s hearing.
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Caleb Loehrer, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or cloehrer@thegardenisland.com.
There are not “charges” in a civil lawsuit. Charges occur only in criminal cases.
The lawsuit involving Marriott is not a criminal case. The hotel is not facing “charges.” Alan Ganir has a separate criminal case as an individual, currently set for jury trial on April 29 (5CPC-18-0000233 State v. Alan G Ganir).