Apparently, every non-consensual kiss begins with Kay.
For decades, Sterling Jewelers, the parent company of Kay Jewelers and Jared-The Galleria of Jewelry, has promoted their stores as places to go for romance and to show your special someone how much you love them. And for decades, the company's male executives have been groping their saleswomen, paying them less than men, and demanding sex in exchange for job security or advancement.
In 2008, a private class action arbitration case was filed by a dozen women against Sterling Jewelers over the company's widespread gender discrimination. Now that the case has dragged on for nine years, it includes 69,000 women from 1,500 stores. And on February 26th, more than 1,300 pages of testimony from the case were finally released to the public. What it shows is horrific.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, top male managers would go around to different stores looking for desirable female employees. Then they would coerce the women into sex by promising them things like raises, protection from punishment, or a better job. It happened so often that the managers called this "going to the big stage."
But perhaps the most disgusting abuses happened at the annual managers meetings, described by former employees as "sex-fests." Spouses were not allowed to attend, but employee attendance was mandatory. The male executives used this opportunity to prey on their female managers. Various women reported being groped and kissed without consent. Multiple witnesses reported in their testimony that on one occasion they saw Sterling Jewelers CEO Mark Light jumping into a swimming pool to be "entertained" by nude and semi-nude female employees.
Women who tried to report this routine sexual harassment and assault were verbally abused, and some were even fired.
It is clear that sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination has been condoned and even encouraged by CEO Mark Light. As a result, the company has created a highly abusive culture where men are the predators and women are the hunted.
Sign this petition to demand that the Sterling Jewelers Board of Directors immediately fire Mark Light and require comprehensive sexual assault training in all their stores and corporate offices.
