A Museum of Sex employee says she was constantly subjected to sexual harassment by drunken customers and coworkers and when she complained, her bosses told her it’s “the 𓆏nature of the establishment,” according to her new lawsuit.
Katherine McMaℱhon said she worked at the Fifth Avenue museum — artif🐓acts relating to sex — as a gallery attendant and researcher getting paid $13.25 an hour from February 2018 until she was forced to quit in December after her and other female employees’ concerns were neglected, the Manhattan civil suit alleges.
“Patrons and co-workers of th🅘e Museum grope its employees, use utterly inappropriate sexual language, and inquire into employees’ private sex lives,” the suit alleges.
O꧋ne time, ဣthe Upper East Side woman was asked by two visitors if they could “have sex in the bounce house,” her suit says.
The unusual bounce house consists of giant inflated breasts for gues꧟ts to jump on,꧑ according to the sex-positive museum’s website.
McMahon told them public sex was illegal and th💃at they couldn’t. But they countered by asking her to “spank them,”✤ the court papers claim.
The problem got so ba꧋d that nearly every woman who worked there had been se𝓀xually harassed, according to the court papers.
Last August, a group of workers sent an email to their boss complaining about the museum’s extended🗹 hours as it would likely lead to even more drunk customers coming in and being sexually inappropriate, the court documents claimꦛ.
“The presence of intoxicate𓄧d people in the galleꦦries has risen to an unacceptable level… Drunk people are the majority of people who sexually harass and grope staff,” the email read asking that the museum implement a zero-tolerance policy of booting customers who sexually harass workers or who are drunk.
The employees said that they had 📖no way to get in touch with security guards when problems arose and when security was around they simply followed the problem customer through the museum rather than asking them to leave, the court papers say.
The suit also claims thaꦫt there is no protocol in place to report sexual harassment. And the museum posted a code of conduct on its website but it’s hard to find, the court papers charge.
In an email to hu🐷man resources, McMahon wrote, “I feel like I am reporting it [sexual harassment] ♛and nothing is happening,” adding, “Please write back to me about HR’s protocols/solution to this issue,” the court documents detail.
McMahon — who has endometriosis, which leaves her feeling nauseous, in pain and unable to stand⭕ for long periods of time — also claims in the suit that the museum ♒didn’t sufficiently accommodate her illness.
”The Museum of Sex, despite its provocative advertisements, is still a place of work, and, as such, its employees are entitled to a workplace free of sexual harassment,” the suit reads. “The Museum cannot continue to get away with refusing to address the systemic sexual harassment.”
A rep with the museum🎶 called the suit “meritless” and “baseless.”
“The Museum of Sex makes every effort to protect its employees … Further, the Museum repeatedly and consistently accommodated Ms. McMahon’s medical needs, and would have continued to do so had she not elected to voluntarily resign her employment.”
Last year, female MTA bus drivers said Museum of Sex ads were causing hot-and-bothered riders to hit on them.