White Male Manager Accused Of Battering Black Female Employee.
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2021 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A lawsuit just filed in U.S. District Court alleges that Boca Raton’s Woodfield Country Club engaged in discriminatory behavior against a black employee.
Chandra Noble started her job as a “desk attendant” in the “tennis department” of Woodfield on or about October 20th, 2016. According to the suit, Defendant Jeffrey Cohen — her manager — “inflicted verbal assaults and emotional mental abuse towards (Noble) while other white employees did not receive such treatment.”
Despite Noble’s frequent complaints to the Human Resources Director at Woodfield, the suit claims that the country club did nothing, and Cohen’s abuse of Ms. Noble escalated into a physical battery.
From the suit: “On November 15th, 2019, Defendant Cohen placed his hand around the back of Plaintiff’s neck, with a very tight grip, squeezing it very hard, digging his fingers deep into the Plaintiff’s collar bone, then guided and pulled the Plaintiff back towards a computer, after becoming enraged with the Plaintiff. The above acts were done without the Plaintiff’s consent. Defendant Cohen never battered a white nor male employee the way he battered the Defendant, therefore committed the battery because the Plaintiff was an African American or because she is a woman.”
Also from the suit: “As a result of Defendant Cohen’s grabbing the Plaintiff’s neck, the Plaintiff suffered headaches, sleepless nights with tossing and turning through the night, upset stomach, nausea, anxiety and constant fear, humiliation, depression, and trauma each time the Plaintiff is near the computer where the battery occurred. The Plaintiff reported Defendant Cohen’s actions to local law enforcement, and Defendant Cohen explained to law enforcement that the Plaintiff ‘gets distracted easily and was guiding her back to the computer screen.”
BocaNewsNow.com could not independently verify that police were called. Mr. Cohen is not listed as a criminal defendant in the Palm Beach County court system — he was apparently neither arrested nor cited.
Noble, according to the filing, reported Cohen and Woodfield Country Club to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which opened a case. That case continues. After being notified of the EEOC investigation, Woodfield allegedly reduced Noble’s hours and kept her under the management of Jeffrey Cohen.
Read the complete lawsuit, below. If it does not appear, use this link for access. There was no immediate response filed by Woodfield Country Club. We remind our readers that lawsuits are accusations.
Ms. Noble is represented by Tobechuku Tony Nwahiri of Nwahiri Law in Miami.
