A former employee has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com Services LLC, alleging sexual harassment, discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation, and retaliation. The complaint was filed by Dajon Collins in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on June 14, 2024.
According to the court documents, Collins claims that he faced a hostile work environment during his tenure at Amazon from September 2020 to April 2024. The allegations state that Valerie Jackson, a Learning Ambassador at Amazon, used homophobic slurs against Collins and engaged in retaliatory behavior after he reported the incident to Human Resources (HR). Specifically, Collins asserts that Jackson called him a "faggot" in October 2023 and that this derogatory term was reported to HR with a witness present. Despite this evidence, HR allegedly took no action.
Collins further alleges that after reporting the incident, Jackson confronted him aggressively and continued to harass him by imitating his walk and making derogatory comments about him. He also claims that HR's response was inadequate; instead of addressing his complaints, they reprimanded him for filming Jackson's aggressive behavior and moved him closer to her workspace. This relocation exacerbated the hostile environment and led Collins to feel unsupported by HR.
The situation culminated in Collins' termination on April 4, 2024. He contends that the reasons given for his dismissal—making mistakes and having too much idle time—were pretextual. Throughout his employment, Collins states he met or exceeded performance expectations. He believes his termination was directly linked to his complaints about harassment and discrimination.
Collins is seeking various forms of relief from the court including back pay with interest, front pay with benefits, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages, injunctive relief to prevent future occurrences of such behavior at Amazon, attorney’s fees, and any other relief deemed just by the court.
The case is being handled by Chad W. Eisenback of Sulaiman Law Group Ltd., while it will be presided over by judges assigned within the Northern District of Illinois under Case ID: 1:24-cv-04964.