Simi Woman Files Suit Charging Harassment at Coca-Cola Plant in Sylmar

A Simi Valley woman has filed a sexual harassment suit against the Coca-Cola Bottling Co., alleging that as an employee of its Sylmar plant she endured years of “vile, sexually descriptive” remarks and advances that went unheeded by supervisors.

Some of the remarks were so crass and upsetting that she vomited, plaintiff Kelly Duhs charges in her suit, filed Monday at San Fernando Superior Court.

Duhs, a 35-year-old forklift operator, was teased about her genitalia and sexual practices and was compared to a life-size blow-up doll kept in the bottling plant’s office, according to her suit, which seeks an unspecified sum of money.

Two supervisors named as defendants in the suit, Ned Alestri and Larry Campbell, allegedly called her “Kelly Douche Bag” to ridicule her surname.

She was also refused personal phone calls--even during emergencies--and was forced to use the men’s bathroom during her shift at night, when the women’s restroom was locked, the suit says.

“This is the worst one I’ve seen of the cases I’ve handled,” said Duhs’ attorney, Victor G. Zilinskas of Santa Barbara, who specializes in sexual harassment suits. “It’s deplorable what this woman has had to go through.”

Officials at Coca-Cola Enterprises headquarters in Atlanta, which oversees the Sylmar bottling plant and others, refused to comment, stating they had not yet received a copy of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that the harassment against Duhs began eight months after the widow and mother of two started working at the Sylmar plant in May, 1990--the only full-time, female employee among about 50 men.

According to the lawsuit, officials locked the women’s bathroom during the evening shift since few women used it and because it was near an office where employees were not allowed.

There were no stalls, screens or curtains inside the men’s room and the bathroom floor was littered with excrement and urine, the lawsuit noted. Duhs would often have to lift her pant legs off the floor to avoid getting them soiled and stand to urinate, the lawsuit states.

One thing the bathroom did have was a large chalkboard that, according to Duhs’ suit, had obscene drawings depicting male and female genitalia as well as explicit sexual acts. Duhs would erase the scrawlings and draw flowers, her lawyer said, but the lewd drawings returned and at times her name appeared under the women’s bodies.

In October, 1992, Duhs fainted on the bathroom floor, because of an unrelated illness. After returning to work weeks later, her lawsuit claims, she found a chalk-outlined figure of her body on the floor with genitalia markings and her name.

The suit alleges that Duhs was also refused phone calls although men were allowed that privilege. When her daughter was ill, the suit says, she was told that she would be fired if she left work. In addition, she was constantly threatened with having her shifts changed or losing her job, the lawsuit alleges.

When she complained to supervisors, the suit continues, Duhs was told that if she didn’t like the treatment she could quit. At one point, the lawsuit alleges, one supervisor gave her a job application to McDonald’s. On another occasion, she said, she was told to use the bathroom at the corner gas station if she didn’t like the conditions of the one at the plant.

In 1994, Duhs filed a complaint with the Bottlers Local Union 896 in Los Angeles. The union’s executive board fined two employees, Zilinskas said. Zilinskas did not have the workers’ names and union officials could not be reached for comment.

Duhs has been on sick leave since October, 1994, suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, Zilinskas said. A psychologist also has suggested that she not return to work immediately, he said.

“I think it’s one of those things that built up with time and got worse and worse,” Zilinskas said of the alleged harassment. “As the sole supporter for her children she needs this job, but she doesn’t need this abuse.”