Monster Energy is allegedly a horrible place for women to work
Execs at multimillion-dollar drink company Monster Energy have been from women who claim the company fosters an “abusive and discriminatory” workplace culture, where female employees are punished for speaking up about harassment.
John Kenneally, a vice president at the company, is at the center of two lawsuits accusing him of bullying, harassment and retaliation and of forcing three women out of the company and ruining their reputations.
He allegedly sent text messages to a woman calling her a “whore,” made a racially charged comment about “black d—s,” and used “bitch” to refer to her and another employee.
He was put on paid leave after HuffPost reached out to Monster last week, but the company claimed this was for reasons unrelated to the story, the site reported.
Another manager, Phillip Deitrich, 51, is the subject of a sex discrimination lawsuit by a former employee who claims he undermined her and sabotaged her ability to work, resulting in her leaving the company.
A fifth lawsuit was filed in 2016 by a woman who worked in the company’s HR department and claims she experienced harassment.
Women interviewed by the website described a “boys club” culture at the company with few to no female executives.
Monster said these cases were without merit and called the women who filed the suits “disgruntled employees.”
“The only connection is that these individuals suing Monster for money have endeavored to band together to litigate their cases in the media,” the company said in a statement. “The cases are diverse, unrelated and do not remotely suggest a systemic environment of harassment or discrimination.”
Coca-Cola, which owns an 18.1 percent stake in the energy drink company, said it was unaware of the cases.