Former Lobbyist Claims Eli Lilly Created a ‘Sexually Hostile Work Environment’ In a New Lawsuit

TOPLINE

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has been hit with a sex discrimination lawsuit in which a former employee alleges she was subjected to “a sexually hostile work environment” by her supervisors, just weeks after the company faced a separate scandal in which the former CFO resigned over an “inappropriate personal relationship” with an employee.

KEY FACTS

• Sonya Elling, a former congressional lobbyist with Lilly for nearly two decades, sued Lilly for unspecified damages in federal court last week, alleging her old supervisor Leigh Ann Pusey bullied Elling and other female employees, particularly those who did not conform to gender stereotypes.
• When Pusey became Elling’s second-line supervisor in 2017, Elling alleged she regularly belittled Elling and other female employees, calling them words like “bitch,” “nasty,” and mocking their weight and sartorial choices, while showing a preference for their male colleagues.

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