A female sailor, who served as the first and only woman aboard a Shedd Aquarium research ship, has filed suit in federal court against her former employer, leveling accusations of harassment and sex discrimination at the hands of her commanding officers and shipmates.
On May 6, Susan Edgerton filed a complaint in Chicago federal court against the Shedd Aquarium Society, which operates Chicago’s John G. Shedd Aquarium.
Edgerton is represented in the action by attorneys Jennifer B. Salvatore and Andrea L. Evans, of the firm of Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter PLLC, of Evanston and Northville, Mich.
Jennifer B. Salvatore
| spplawyers.com
According to the complaint, Edgerton, a resident of North Carolina, served aboard the Shedd’s research vessel, Coral Reef II. The ship, with a three-member crew, docks in Miami, but is usually at sea in and around the Bahamas, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, Edgerton served aboard the vessel from 2018-2019, with three different men, including the ship’s captain and two different first mates, all three of whom allegedly were friends and knew each other before working together aboard the ship.
The complaint accused the Shedd Society of allowing the all-male crew to operate “an unapologetically sexist working environment” aboard the ship.
According to the complaint, during her time onboard, Edgerton was allegedly subjected to a stream of “degrading comments” directed at her and about other women.
Among other alleged incidents, Edgerton allegedly was asked, “What, are you lactating?” by the first mate at the time, after she had returned from a run and was visibly sweating.
On another occasion, the other first mate allegedly told her: “That’s the first action I’ve gotten all week,” after Edgerton stuck out her tongue.
On other occasions, the male crew members allegedly used the term “cunt” to refer to specific women, including female research students and other female Shedd employees, in the presence of Edgerton.
On another occasion, the captain allegedly told Edgerton he would “never hire a woman” as first mate.
Edgerton claimed she was also subjected to physical work demands that were allegedly not also required of her male shipmates. On one occasion, she said, the captain ordered her to leap 15 feet down onto a concrete dock to help moor the vessel, resulting in broken bones and other injuries. However, the captain allegedly refused to allow her to seek medical attention for her injuries.
The complaint asserts Edgerton was also required to take on work duties normally assigned to other crew members, which allegedly was not similarly required of male crew members.
Ultimately, Edgerton claimed the ship’s captain began filling her personnel file with notes “falsely accusing her of misconduct.” She said the notes began around the time she first complained of being subjected to an improper “gender-based double standard.”
For instance, the complaint specifically asserted the captain sent Edgerton ashore, even after she told him she had not completed cleaning the ship’s galley, as was her duty. However, when she went ashore, the captain allegedly photographed the dirty galley, and included the photo as proof of Edgerton’s alleged dereliction of duty.
Edgerton was fired in May 2019.
The complaint included counts of sex discrimination; creation of a hostile work environment; retaliation; and violation of the Jones Act, for allegedly refusing to allow her to seek medical attention for her injuries, among other allegations.
She is asking the court to award unspecified compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney fees, and other damages.
In a published statement, the Shedd said:
“For decades, Shedd Aquarium has adhered to and acted upon its rigorous policies and procedures related to harassment and discrimination. Moreover, we also perform annual prevention training for all employees. We do not tolerate conduct inconsistent with these policies and our values, including aboard our research vessel.
“We cannot comment specifically about a matter in litigation, except that we categorically take all allegations of this nature seriously, deny these claims and will defend this matter in responsibility to our work, our people and our community. We also note that Ms. Edgerton filed her claims with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in December 2019. We promptly investigated the matter and responded to the EEOC, and last week the agency terminated its processing of her claims.”
According to the complaint, the EEOC granted Edgerton a Notice of Right to Sue on April 26.