A former employee has filed a lawsuit against their previous employer, alleging sexual harassment, discrimination based on gender identity, and retaliation. Noroyle Lamb initiated the complaint against Vastek, Inc., filing it in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Oct. 28, 2024.
Noroyle Lamb, who identifies as transgender masculine nonbinary, worked for Vastek, Inc. as a Lead AI Chat Bot Trainer from May 15 to July 10, 2024. During this period, Lamb claims they were subjected to discriminatory practices that violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The complaint outlines that after changing their pronouns to they/them in June 2024, Lamb faced increasing hostility and discomfort from coworkers. Despite meeting or exceeding performance expectations, Lamb alleges experiencing differential treatment and a hostile work environment.
Lamb's attempts to address these issues internally were met with inadequate responses from management. Lamb allegedly reported instances of transphobia to their manager but claimed that Vastek failed to conduct any meaningful investigation into these complaints. Instead of resolving the situation, Lamb allegedly faced further discrimination and was demoted from their position as Lead Trainer. The situation allegedly escalated when Lamb was terminated on July 10, ostensibly for sharing personal information—a reason Lamb argues was merely a pretext for discrimination based on gender identity.
The lawsuit accuses Vastek of multiple violations under Title VII: sexual harassment, sex-based discrimination, and retaliation against an employee engaging in protected activities such as reporting harassment.
Lamb is asking for various forms of relief including back pay with interest, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages for willful disregard of rights, and attorney’s fees among others. Lamb also seeks injunctive relief to prevent future occurrences of such discriminatory practices at Vastek.
Representing Lamb is Nathan C. Volheim from Sulaiman Law Group Ltd., while no attorneys are listed yet for Vastek in this initial filing document. The case has been assigned Case ID: 1:24-cv-11035 and awaits further proceedings in front of the court.