A little more than two months after publicly detailing allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace, Laterrica Perry, a former sales representative at a Comcast center in Memphis, Tennessee, says she is still being retaliated against by the company. On Wednesday, Perry delivered a petition on Coworker.org, signed by more than 4,000 people — including, she estimated, dozens of former Comcast employees — demanding that the telecommunications giant address what has been described as a culture of sexual harassment.
Time's up, the former Comcast employee says.
In July of 2017, Perry, 30, filed an anonymous report and provided evidence of her supervisor’s inappropriate behavior, which included unwanted sexual advances and inappropriate comments, to the Comcast Human Resources department. She believes her boss retaliated against her after she refused his sexual passes, denying her sick time and a letter of recommendation. Though she sent records of his text messages and phone calls, she says it took HR until October to fire him, and during those months, she claims, he tarnished her reputation at the company.
Perry says she has been diagnosed with PTSD because of the harassment she experienced at Comcast and was on disability leave until March of this year, which has resulted in a steep cut in her income. She has had to take a hardship withdrawal out of her 401(k) account to get by. “I’ve been having regular therapy sessions, my psychiatrist helps and being medically regulated has helped me for the most part," she told Salon.
In addition to the harassment she faced, Perry recently found out that Comcast has fired her. She found out about her dismissal on April 30 while waiting for a separation package from the company.
"The only information I got was via e-mail saying that they had proceeded with the actual separation, but I didn't get the actual package that showed why I was separated," Perry told Salon. "I received everything, as far as my COBRA coverage, my 401(k) information. The only thing that I had not received is the explanation for my termination. I kind of felt like that was something suspicious," she explains.
Perry says that is the last of several examples of Comcast retaliating against her for coming forward with her story of sexual harassment. On Wednesday May 2nd, she and two other former Comcast employees traveled to Philadelphia to deliver a petition to the company's corporate headquarters.
Part of a campaign spearheaded in November 2017, during the peak of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, by Rylinda Rhodes, a former dispatch representative at Comcast who said she had undergone verbal and physical sexual harassment while working at the company between 2007 and 2012, the petition calls on Comcast's CEO Brian Roberts to tackle inappropriate behavior in the company's workplaces. More than 4,000 people, including over 100 who identify as former or current Comcast employees and customers, have signed it.
Comcast executives refused to meet with them on Wednesday, Rhodes said, but she noted that despite that, delivering the petition was a success.
“It's still a win. It lets them know people are watching and coming forth," she said. "It's also for the ones that are still suffering. To know they are not alone. We are just getting started. All women should have the freedom to be their authentic self and not a scared version because of sexual harassment.”
Rhodes said she was fired Aug. 1, 2012, after complaining that a co-worker came into her office and groped her breasts. She has since filed a lawsuit against Comcast.
Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, has already come under intense scrutiny for harassment after multiple women detailed allegations of sexual harassment against fired "Today" show host Matt Lauer. Most recently, veteran NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw was hit with fresh allegations of misconduct.
The reckoning on sexual harassment has, so far, mostly toppled powerful men in white-collar workplaces, including Hollywood, politics and the news media. But there were approximately 1,2000 complaints of sexual harassment charges filed at the EEOC in the information industry, which includes telecommunication companies like Comcast, between 2005 and 2015. Now these women at Comcast, who worked in a blue-collar workplace, many of them women of color, have united in an attempt to repair a system that let them down and to prevent the trauma that was imposed on them from being inflicted on other women.
Jenni Moyer, senior director of corporate communications at Comcast, issued the following statement to Jezebel when it first detailed Perry and Rhodes' allegations of sexual misconduct in February: "Sexual harassment, or harassment of any kind, is not tolerated at Comcast. The company was founded on a foundation of respect, integrity and trust. We have strong policies against sexual and other forms of harassment and encourage employees to report any harassing behavior. Any allegation of harassment is taken very seriously."
Rhodes, who has worked at four Comcast call centers, told Salon she has been sexually harassed at all but one. The experience left her traumatized and made her go on short-term medical leave, during which she sought talk therapy. During that time, Comcast was investigating her claims of sexual harassment in the workplace and told her to apply for other jobs. Rhodes was ultimately fired from Comcast in 2012, she said. The letter of termination stated it was because of health reasons.
Rhodes said the recent movement against sexual harassment inspired her to tell her own #MeToo story. Since launching the campaign in November, Rhodes said "several women have come forward, saying that this has happened to them too. . . . Some of them even reached out to me directly and I always offer them words to empower them."
"Going through this can be a very lonely process," she continued. "And to be able to unite with the people that have gone through this and are struggling with this has been the greatest sense of relief. . . . I had to share my story so I could give hope to others that want to do the same thing."
Rhodes explained that it took her so long to come forward because of the humiliation she felt as a result of the harassment.
"The shame and embarrassment came from feeling powerless that this happened," she recalled. "I listened to what my supervisors and managers said, like, 'hey, you're sensitive,' and I started believing that I was the problem. That was one of the hardest things to go through. Then I realized, 'No, you are not too sensitive,' 'No, you're not a prude.' . . . There are rules set in place to prevent this and they did not follow the rules."
But she remains hopeful that Comcast will modify the way it handles sexual misconduct in the company's workplaces as a result of her campaign.
"I feel like that they can actually make some changes. I feel like they can improve," she said. "The reason I feel this way is because the very first location that I worked at, I'm telling you, it was amazing. I was so proud to work in that location."
Perry, on the other hand, is reluctant that the campaign will inspire Comcast to change its ways. "I have doubts that Comcast will be open to meeting with us and be open to resolving the issue that they have with sexual harassment," she said.
Nevertheless, Perry doesn't regret coming forward with her story. She referenced the #MeToo movement and the takedown of men in prominent positions, and said, "What I'm doing is giving a voice to the voiceless. I'm also empowering people to step forward and say if something happens to them, whether it be at Comcast or any other corporation. . . . That’s my silver lining."
She said she "plans on pursuing other opportunities to help women speak up and to support them and help them find resources because most people don't know there are resources out there to help with reporting these incidents and what to do after you've reported the incident, how to get help. That's something I feel great about."
Like Perry, Rhodes is hopeful that her story will empower other women to speak out about their experiences of sexual harassment and know they're not alone. Even if her story reaches one person, she said, she'll consider that a win.
"The most important thing about this is sharing this to give hope to whoever is out there that feels lost, that feels like it was their fault, that feels shame and blame," Rhodes said. "I want them to know it is not their fault and that there are things that they could do to feel better and to be better. This does not have to define the rest of their lives."
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