A high-profile lawsuit concerning bathroom breaks and the rationing of toilet paper does little to improve the reputation of the PR business, according to some observers of the communications arena.
A VP at New York PR firm Wise Public Relations claims in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court that she was the target of “discriminatory treatment and harassment” on the basis of her gender—treatment that extended to the rationing of the amount of toilet paper she was allowed to use.
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Tracey BoudineTracey Boudine is lauded on the Wise website as “a ‘hands-on communications professional” with a proven track record who “frequently delivers what others counsel as unlikely.”
Prior to Wise PR, she served as Corporate Communications Manager at Arnold Worldwide, a division of HavasWorldwide.
However, during her two years at Wise, as the only woman serving as part of the firm’s senior leadership, she charges in her complaint that she was denied lucrative accounts and had to work “twice as hard” as her male colleagues.
But it is the controversy surrounding supposed comments about Boudine’s use of toilet paper, and a subsequent rationing of the amount of toilet paper she was allowed to use, around which the case against her former employer is revolving.
Court documents said Boudine was “teased about her need to use the bathroom, and in particular, her need—as a woman—to use toilet paper more frequently when she did use the restroom.”
The documents also claim that the firm “went so far as to impose a limit on how much toilet paper Ms. Boudine could use.” Due to those limitations, the suit says, she was “relegated to using nearby fast food restaurant and gym bathrooms” during her two years at Wise.
Boudine says that complaints she made about the situation to firm management were ignored. Alexander Granovsky, Boudine’s attorney, wrote Wise management in April, charging them with discrimination. “Within hours,” the suit says, Boudine was fired.
The amount Boudine is suing for has not been disclosed but includes back pay, lost wages and unspecified damages.
Attorneys representing Wise PR said the firm doesn’t tolerate “any form of harassment or discrimination.”
“We are confident that once the facts of this case are presented, it will be clear that the claims are baseless, frivolous, and frankly absurd,” said a statement from Lisa Griffith and law firm Littler Mendelson.
Wise PR did not return calls for comment.
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