BlackBerry Ltd. and its chief executive John Giamatteo have asked a U.S. court to dismiss some claims in a lawsuit filed by a former employee who claims the company's top executive sexually harassed her and then retaliated against her after she reported the behaviour. A BlackBerry logo is shown in Waterloo, Ont., Tuesday, May 29, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Ryan
WATERLOO, Belgium – BlackBerry Ltd. and its chief executive John Giamatteo have asked a U.S. court to dismiss some claims made by a former employee who alleges Giamatteo sexually harassed her and then retaliated against her after she reported the behaviour.
In a filing made in a Northern California court, the Waterloo, Ont., cybersecurity company and Giamatteo say the unnamed plaintiff’s claims have no merit and are filled with “falsehoods and mischaracterizations.”
The filing also says the woman’s allegations come nowhere close to constituting the “pervasive” or “severe” conduct required to make a sexual harassment claim.
The plaintiff, who is a woman of colour, previously told The Canadian Press that Giamatteo had “tried to get close to her” and “woo” her, before the company let her go after she reported the conduct.
In the court filings, the company and Giamatteo say the plaintiff lost her job at BlackBerry not because she reported harassment but because she was part of a layoff that culled 200 staff from the firm.
They allege that she was a poor fit to be placed in a new role because she engaged in a long-term pattern of “antagonistic and demeaning conduct toward colleagues.”
A lawyer for the plaintiff pointed out that BlackBerry’s filing offers two contradictory reasons for the plaintiff: performance and a layoff.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2024.
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