Hundreds accuse jewellery firm of discrimination, sexual misconduct

New York

SANDRA Sargent had finally had enough when a guard at Jared the Galleria of jewellery in Crestview Hills, Kentucky waved his security scanning wand over her buttocks one day in 2007. Several weeks earlier, she said, he had used the same device to brush across her chest. So she called an anonymous company hotline and reported his behaviour.

It was an inauspicious career decision by Ms Sargent, a manager at the store. The complaint made its way to a district manager who later told her that she should "grow some thick skin" and that the guard had been having "harmless fun", according to a sworn written statement from Ms Sargent. Soon after, she was fired.

Ms Sargent is among the hundreds of former employees of Sterling Jewelers, the parent of Kay Jewelers, Jared and other jewellery retailers, whose statements about their experiences at the company were released on Feb 26. The statements, most of them from women, are part of a class action case that includes 69,000 current or former employees and accuses Sterling of …