On September 6, 2023, Natalia Mazzuchelli files a discrimination lawsuit against her former employers Immutable Pty. Ltd. and Lightsource Global.
On September 26, 2022, Ms. Mazzuchelli, a highly accomplished strategist and solutions leader, started working for Immutable and Lightsource as a Director of Partner Success. On September 29, 2022, only three days later, Ms. Mazzuchelli’s direct boss, Shirley Anderson, started to sexually harass Ms. Mazzuchelli. Ms. Anderson began to inundate Ms. Mazzuchelli with questions and stories about group sex, bisexuality, anal sex, extramarital affairs and Ms. Anderson’s assessments about the sex lives of company executives. According to Ms. Anderson, one executive “needs to have more sex,” another is in a “religious marriage” but “might be open to having sex and other relationships,” and a third is “more calm” because he “gets to have more sex.” On one occasion, Ms. Anderson insisted on coming to Ms. Mazzuchelli’s hotel room during a work-related trip, where Ms. Anderson promptly stripped to her bra and underwear, and suggestively asked Ms. Mazzuchelli whether she (Ms. Anderson) should get a “boob job.” Many of these encounters were sprinkled with Ms. Anderson’s statements about wanting to have sex with more women and explore different experiences – an obvious effort to groom Ms. Mazzuchelli into a sexual encounter. Ms. Mazzuchelli persistently rebuffed Ms. Anderson’s sexual overtures.
On April 5, 2023, Ms. Mazzuchelli disclosed to Ms. Anderson that she was pregnant and that her pregnancy was high-risk. Ms. Anderson responded by – for the first time – criticizing Ms. Mazzuchelli’s performance, questioning whether Ms. Mazzuchelli could “do this job pregnant” and whether Ms. Mazzuchelli was “motivated to be in this role.” Approximately two weeks later, and after Ms. Mazzuchelli complained to Human Resources about Ms. Anderson’s discriminatory treatment, Defendants fired Ms. Mazzuchelli in violation of New York law prohibiting sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination and retaliation.
The Complaint can be read here.
Statement from Wigdor attorney Valdi Licul:
“No employee should have to tolerate the type of sexual harassment Ms. Mazzuchelli endured. Nor should any woman be summarily fired because she is pregnant, as obviously happened to Ms. Mazzuchelli. We look forward to holding Immutable and Lightsource responsible for this unlawful behavior.”