HOLLAND (WTHC-AM/FM) — Zeeland-based Gentex is being sued for alleged gender discrimination by a former employee, Elizabeth Helminski.
The lawsuit, filed by the Grand Rapids-based firm Pinsky, Smith, Fayette & Kennedy, names the company and an employee, an engineer named Brian Brackenbury, whose LinkedIn profile lists his current title as “Director, Connected Products & In-Cabin Sensing,” for what the lawsuit says are “violations of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Elliot Larsen Civil Rights Act for Discrimination based on gender and retaliation, to correct unlawful employment practices on the basis of gender.”
“We cannot comment on a pending lawsuit, and it is our company’s policy to not comment on current or past employees,” said Gentex spokesman Craig Piersma in an email responding to WHTC’s questions.
The lawsuit contends that Helminski, hired as a senior project engineer quickly found herself in an office environment described by Brackenbury as “like fraternity brothers” during her January, 2019 orientation. Ensuing incidents included a meeting intended to discuss confidential company information in which, according to the lawsuit, a male engineer refused to the close the door for religious reasons pertaining to not being “alone with a woman to whom he was not married.”
The suit also describes a culture of hazing, some directed at Helminski, and pranks aimed at her. Other instances cited in the suit as violations of the law were conversations Helminski had with her supervisor, in which he asked her to appear not to understand an issue and to ask the men — at times in front of others — in the room to explain things to her, as a way to build a sense of community.
Subsequent conversations with her boss led to his suggestion that she talk to Gentex’s vice president of diversity, Joe Matthews, which she agreed to do, according to to the lawsuit. While Helminski set an appointment to speak with Matthews, the suit said. After her boss asked about those plans, and she confirmed she had an appointment, she was fired on Sept. 30, 2019, according to the court documents. The lawsuit describes the firing as retaliation for Helminski’s plans to discuss what the alleged culture of mysogny — which the suit calls “bro culture” — with Matthews.
Helminski is a cum laude graduate from Michigan Tech, with a bachelors in mechanical engineering in 2002, and earned a masters in business administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in 2009. Her career has so far included stints at General Motors, where over four years she rose to lead product quality engineer; Nissan, where she worked on vehicle quality and as a program manager for commercial vehicles before managing marketing and administration purchasing; and Amazon, where she moved from program operations manager to principal product manager for emerging devices and services. She currently works for Amazon as a principal product manager.
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