SAVANNAH, Ga. (CN) - A former manager of a restaurant owned by TV chef Paula Deen and Deen's brother claims in Superior Court that she endured five years of sexual harassment, racial harassment of her staff, and assault, forcing her to quit.
Lisa T. Jackson sued Paula Deen, Paula Deen Enterprises, The Lady & Sons LLC, The Lady Enterprises, Earl W. "Bubba" Hiers, and Uncle's Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House, in Chatham County Court. Hiers is Deen's brother.
Jackson says she began working with Paula Deen Enterprises at Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House as a hostess in 2005, and was promoted to general manager within six months.
Jackson says the harassment from Bubba Hiers was relentless for five years.
"Ms. Jackson was subject to sexually harassing conduct by Bubba Hiers every single day Ms. Jackson came to work for over five (5) years," the complaint states. "In addition to inescapable pornography he brought to the workplace, Bubba Hiers' harassing and abusive comments were often loud and without apparent concern for customers, vendors, staff or anyone else near him."
Jackson says it was impossible for her to escape the pornography because she and Hiers shared a company email address, and he used the restaurant's kitchen computer, in plain sight of employees, to visit porn sites and download content from them.
"On more than one occasion, Bubba Hiers requested that Ms. Jackson bring pictures of herself when she was young for him to view," the complaint states. "He told her 'you have nice legs' and that two other employees are 'fat girls', commenting that (because of their weight) they did not need to be wearing capri pants or skirts."
Hiers commented to one of Jackson's female co-workers, who had recently received dentures, "I bet your husband is going to like that," and he joked with the staff saying that men should have sex with women with flat heads because, "you can sit your beer on top of her head while she is giving you a blow job," according to the complaint says.
The complaint adds: "At a weekly manager's meeting that included Ms. Jackson, Bubba Hiers brought printouts of an email that stated 'Why Gay Marriage should be legal," and showed pictures of women having sex with other women. Mr. Hiers proceeded to pass these pictures around the table for everyone to see. ..."
Jackson claims that the staff she managed, primarily African-American, were subjected to frequent angry outbursts by Hiers, laced with racial epithets along with the threat and reality of physical violence against them.
"Ms. Jackson was subjected to violent behavior by Bubba Hiers, violent behavior that included sexual harassment of Ms. Jackson and other female employees and assault and battery of Ms. Jackson," the complaint states. "Mr. Hiers' violent behavior also included racial harassment, assault, battery and other humiliating conduct practiced upon the employees managed by Ms. Jackson. The conduct described herein is no mere offensive utterance; the conduct was threatening, even physically, and universally humiliating. The staff of Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House ... lived in fear of Bubba Hiers."
Jackson claims that after she reported a sexually harassing comment a white employee made toward an African-American member of the kitchen staff, Hiers physically assaulted an African-American witness to the comment.