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A Utah woman is suing ABC Signature Studios after she says she was fired because she reported a supervisor for sexual harassment.
The woman worked regularly as a stand-in and on occasion as an extra on the show "Blood and Oil," which was produced in Park City, court documents state.
She accuses a production assistant, who directly supervised her, of making unwelcome and graphic comments on a daily basis about having oral sex with her. Additionally, she says in the suit, he sent her graphic sexual text messages, asked whether her husband was open to an open marriage and "begged her" to have sex with him.
Her supervisor would "occasionally apologize for his comments, but then, later, continue with his sexual harassment," documents state.
The harassment "intensified" over the course of her employment, documents say, and was "tolerated," "condoned," "perpetuated and exacerbated" by the conduct of one of the show's stars, documents state.
The supervisor "bullied" and "threatened [the woman, telling her] she could lose her job if she did not accept his advances," documents state.
Additionally, documents say, the supervisor "stalked her around the area of the set" and ridiculed the woman because of her membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, specifically making fun of her religious garments and Jewish heritage.
She also "is informed and believes" other employees made complaints of sexual harassment, documents say.
The woman reported the "unwelcome" conduct to the Park City Police Department and told two other production assistants and "supervisory personnel," documents state.
A production manager told the woman she didn't want this to "follow" her after she complained to him, documents say, and she was sent home early from work that day.
Two days later, she was informed she'd been fired, documents state.
The woman said the reasons she was given for her termination were "merely pretextual fabrications," documents state, and believes she was fired in "unlawful retaliation."
The woman later was offered a demotion and eventually invited to come back again as a stand-in, documents state, but when she arrived for work, she was taken to a meeting with the senior manager of employee relations.
"This is Hollywood," the senior manager told the woman in response to her complaints of harassment, documents say.
Phone messages requesting comment from ABC media relations personnel were not returned Friday afternoon.
The company did not conduct an investigation into her allegations, the woman says in court documents, and instead gave the inappropriate conduct its stamp of approval.
She has asked for at least $120,000 from ABC Signature Studios, a subsidiary if its namesake television company, to make up for emotional damage and at least $240,000 in punitive damages.
A search of court documents shows a woman with the same name from the same city filed a similar lawsuit in 2006 against Citadel Broadcasting Company, which was dismissed almost a year later.
The show "Blood and Oil" was originally slated to record 13 one-hour episodes in Park City, but due to poor ratings, documents state, the episode count was reduced to 10. After the show's first season, ABC Entertainment Chairman Paul Lee lost confidence in the show and it never produced a second season.
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