Worker Says Employees Were Tied To Chair, Hit With Pies At CT Store: Lawsuit

PLAINVILLE, CT — A former Comcast retail employee claims workers at a Connecticut store were tied to a chair and assaulted — including being hit in the face with cream pies — as punishment for failing to meet sales goals, according to a lawsuit.

David Figueroa, of Meriden, filed the lawsuit on July 9 against Comcast Cable Communications Management LLC, doing business as Comcast/Xfinity, in state Superior Court in Meriden. The complaint includes claims of constructive discharge and negligent supervision.

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Figueroa began working as a retail sales consultant at the Comcast store at 248 New Britain Ave. in Plainville on or around Feb. 2, according to the lawsuit. He resigned less than a month later, on Feb. 27.

The complaint said the store manager implemented policies intended to "bully and intimidate" sales consultants who did not meet sales goals or receive positive customer survey responses.

Under one practice, the store's highest-ranked sales consultant from the previous month was instructed to tie the lowest-ranked consultant to a chair in a back office before assaulting that person by smashing a cream pie into their face, the lawsuit claims.

The complaint said the store maintained a publicly posted chart ranking its sales staff and identifying employees who had either been subjected to the punishment or were scheduled to be.

Figueroa claims the manager ordered other employees to participate in and record the incidents, causing physical injury, shame, and humiliation to those targeted.

On Feb. 25, Figueroa said he witnessed a co-worker identified in the complaint only as "Ty" tied up in the store's back room and struck in the face by another employee. Figueroa claims the manager ordered the incident and recorded it along with Figueroa and other workers, according to the lawsuit.

Figueroa also claims two co-workers told him the manager had ordered another employee to hit a sales consultant identified as "Jania" with a pie after Jania received a poor customer survey score. Figueroa later watched a video of that incident on another worker's phone, the complaint states.

Figueroa met with the regional manager on Feb. 27 and raised concerns about what the lawsuit describes as "shocking" workplace policies. He told the regional manager that the incidents made him uncomfortable and caused him to question whether he could remain employed at the store, according to the complaint.

The regional manager asked Figueroa to send a text documenting his concerns and reasons for wanting to resign. The lawsuit claims Figueroa wrote that he was uncomfortable with employees being tied to chairs and physically hit with pies for missing performance metrics.

The regional manager never responded to those messages or complaints, and Figueroa resigned, according to the lawsuit. He claims the repeated threats and violence created a hostile work environment that would have compelled a reasonable employee to quit.

The negligent-supervision count said Comcast knew or should have known the management practices could result in harm to employees but failed to properly supervise the store's management team.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, lost wages, back pay, front pay, punitive damages, attorney's fees and other relief. The amount in demand exceeds $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs.

The case has a return date of Aug. 18.

Comcast did not respond to Patch's request for comment by publication time.