BlackBerry's headquarters in Waterloo, Ont. is shown on June 22, 2016.Eduardo Lima/The Canadian Press
A California judge has dismissed three of eight claims by a former BlackBerry Ltd. female executive suing the company and CEO John Giamatteo for sexual harassment, discrimination and wrongful termination.
Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California wrote in an 18-page ruling Friday that the court “largely agrees” with BlackBerry.
But the judge did not grant the company’s request to strike from a fourth claim all references to “harassment and discrimination.” Instead, she gave the plaintiff until Aug. 19 to file an amended complaint to add facts or details that support her claim.
BlackBerry had asked for the dismissals in a motion last month that stated the plaintiff, identified in court filings as Jane Doe, was let go amid a corporate restructuring and because of her “habitual mistreatment of her co-workers.”
Its motion was a legal manoeuvre to try to narrow the scope of the plaintiff’s action. The Waterloo, Ont.-based company has yet to file a statement of defence.
Jane Doe is a California-based woman of colour who worked for BlackBerry for more than a decade. She alleged in her lawsuit filed in April that despite being a high performer who won “promotion after promotion,” her career was derailed after Mr. Giamatteo’s arrival as president of the cybersecurity business in October, 2021.
Mr. Giamatteo was named chief executive on Dec. 8, 2023, succeeding John Chen, weeks after an employee anonymously filed an internal sexual-harassment complaint against the incoming leader. The company says an outside law firm conducted an extensive investigation into the complaint and found no evidence of wrongdoing or violations of its code of conduct.
Four days before Mr. Giamatteo’s appointment, Jane Doe was informed by interim CEO Richard Lynch that she was being terminated immediately.
Jane Doe alleges she rejected an invitation from Mr. Giamatteo shortly after his arrival at the company in 2021 to travel together and work directly for him, and that they later attended a dinner during which he made her uncomfortable and tried to get close to her and woo her.
After she reported the incident to Mr. Chen, she alleges, Mr. Giamatteo stopped inviting her to meetings and spread rumours she wasn’t a good collaborator. She also reported his alleged retaliation to the human-resources department in early 2023. She alleged her treatment violated the U.S. labour code and California employment law.
BlackBerry in its filing last month characterized Jane Doe as a favourite of Mr. Chen, who “sponsored her rapid rise” and created a unique position for her, but that she “alienated virtually all of her peers through years of rude and divisive conduct.”
The company stated that none of the plaintiff’s claims had merit. Furthermore, her claims regarding a hostile work environment, discriminatory pay and failure to pay her wages promptly “fail at the outset,” the company alleged, because her allegations are “devoid of specific facts” and “come nowhere close” to being pervasive or severe enough under state law or in accordance with past legal precedents to merit her claims.
The company noted the plaintiff’s claim does not allege Mr. Giamatteo made physical contact, nor used explicit language, propositioned her “or even asked her out on a date,” and that the alleged behaviour would amount to “occasional, isolated, sporadic or trivial” conduct and not prompt action under the law.
None of the allegations or arguments by the plaintiff or company have been tested in court.
In her ruling Friday, Justice Kim agreed with the company that Jane Doe’s allegations as stated in her initial filing do not support a claim for a hostile work environment because the plaintiff failed to demonstrate pervasive or severe harassment that altered the conditions of her employment.
“Plaintiff has given little, if any substance to these allegations,” Justice Kim wrote. She added the complaint “contains a multitude of bald assertions of legal conclusions, as well as vague allegations” and that “simply stating that Giamatteo subjected plaintiff to sexual harassment provides no salient fact to support a claim.”
BlackBerry said in a statement Saturday: “Prior to any lawsuit, we conducted a thorough investigation of plaintiff’s harassment allegations and found them to be without merit, and we are pleased to see the court’s ruling confirm that. We look forward to vigorously defending against the remainder of plaintiff’s claims, which are similarly unfounded.”
BlackBerry said last October it would split into two stand-alone businesses focusing on cybersecurity and internet-connected automobiles, and subsequently cut more than 200 jobs. The company said the plaintiff’s position didn’t fit into either unit “and she was a poor fit to be placed in a new or different role because she had engaged in a long-term pattern of antagonistic and demeaning conduct toward colleagues, leading to a negative and toxic culture that surrounded her.”
She was offered the option to resign but declined, and was one of three executives terminated in the layoff.
Maria Bourn, a lawyer for Jane Doe, on Sunday declined to comment on the ruling. The lawyer last month accused BlackBerry of “smearing victims and repressing reports of sexual harassment and retaliation” and conducting “a sham investigation” into the allegations against Mr. Giamatteo.