The lawyer has sued her boss for sexual harassment and also for firing her from the job simply because her outfits were revealing according to them.
Lawyer Jami Pellerin was asked to dress like a Nun by her boss. (Image: Facebook)
Jami Pellerin, a former public defense attorney, filed a lawsuit against her boss, District Public Defender G Paul Marx, alleging that he made sexist remarks towards her during her tenure before he fired her from her position in March, 2020.
In the 28-page lawsuit filed against Marx, Pellerin claims he repeatedly made sexual and sexist remarks towards her including asking her to dress less attractive and don a nun’s attire, as male prisoners would masturbate thinking about her outfits.
She said in the lawsuit that Marx shamed her for her attire saying men don’t have control and she needs to be less attractive for the job. ”Men don’t have self-control. As their attorney and an employee of the public defender, you have to protect these men from their basic instinct by being less attractive.”
She alleged that Marx threatened to fire her from her job for being too attractive on numerous occasions telling her, “I can fire you for being too attractive, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” the statement read.
Pellerin’s attorney Jill Craft told News 10 that her client had to endure “intensely personal” yet intimidating questions by Marx including asking her if she was pregnant and told her the office would not afford to give her maternity leave, in case if she was carrying.
Pellerin revealed in her statement that she took up the matter with the Human Resource Director, Christ St. Julien, and was surprised after he repeated her boss’s words that she needs to dress “like a nun”. The meeting also had Marx in attendance who she says laughed and nodded at what the HR said.
Just a few days after she complained to the HR about harassment at the work place, the former attorney says she was fired from her job in retaliation in March, 2020.
Pellerin also claims in her lawsuit that she was underpaid when compared to her male counterparts in the office and even men, much junior to her were paid more and her seniority didn’t make a difference simply because she is a woman. She said she was hired for $51,000 a year and the other men, who joined after her and with less experience were paid $56,000, she alleged in the complaint.
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