On-the-job harassment got this woman so upset she had a heart attack, according to a $150 million sex-discrimination suit filed this morning.
Mahasti Koosha claims that “incessant abuse” by her male managers at the Eaton Corp. caused her to keel over in the company’s Edison, N.J., parking lot in 2009.
“Ms. Koosha’s cardiologist told her that her work-related stress had caused her blood vessels to contract, creating blockage in her veins,” court papers charge.
Koosha — who had no prior history of heart problems — flat-lined three times and needed “numerous bypass surgeries” to save her life, the suit says.
Koosha and a former colleague, Amy Gaitane, are suing Eaton, a leading industrial-equipment manufacturing company, over “gender hostility and discrimination” that allegedly included women being called “bitches” and getting propositioned for sex at work.
Their class-action complaint, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks damages on behalf of themselves and hundreds of other women currently or formerly employed by the Cleveland-based company, which reported $13.7 billion in sales last year.
Eaton spokesman Scott Schroeder called the claims “totally without merit” and said the company will “vigorously defend” itself.
“At Eaton, we do not discriminate,” he said. “Moreover, we embrace diversity and are inclusive in all of our business practices and within our work environments.”