Amazon fulfillment center
BATON ROUGE, La. – A former Amazon employee has hit the online retail giant with a discrimination lawsuit in Louisiana federal court.
Plaintiff Gretchis Sterling, a former Amazon operations associate, filed her lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana Nov. 4.
In her 13-page filing, Sterling alleges racial and gender discrimination, retaliation, and Equal Pay Act violations. Sterling, a Black female, was employed by Amazon from October 2019 to January 2025.
She claims, from 2019 to 2022, she received “positive feedback” from peers and upper management for her engagement with staff, leadership skills, and contributions to “operational efficiency.”
But things changed in the beginning of 2022, Sterling claims.
According to her filing, Sterling began asking for guidance regarding advancement opportunities, training, and developmental feedback from her then-supervisor, Nicholas Baker, and other managers.
“Instead of providing mentorship or training, Mr. Baker and other supervisors excluded Ms. Sterling from site calls, meetings, and other forums where operational updates and performance metrics were discussed,” she contends.
Then, in 2023, Sterling alleges several of her white male and female peers “with similar or lesser tenure” were promoted to Level Five positions. Sterling, despite meeting the same criteria, was not promoted. She claims she even expressed concern that the decisions appeared unequal.
Sterling also alleges she faced comments about her natural hair, stating it was “not the look they were going for.”
“These remarks are demeaning and race based,” the complaint states.
According to her filing, Sterling reported concerns of unequal treatment, discriminatory comments, and lack of transparency in advancement opportunities to Human Resources and Amazon’s Ethics and Employee Relations departments.
Eventually, in October 2023, Amazon placed Sterling on a Focus Plan, Amazon’s initial performance improvement process.
Following Sterling’s continued internal complaints about Baker’s discriminatory conduct, Amazon conducted an investigation and substantiated her discrimination complaint against Baker. However, the company took no meaningful corrective action against him for nearly 10 months, she contends.
In January 2024, Sterling filed her First Charge of Discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging race and sex discrimination.
After filing the EEOC Charge, she claims she experienced “escalating adverse treatment,” including exclusion from team communications, assignment of additional duties without adequate support or resources, and subjection to negative performance feedback “inconsistent with her documented record and her manager's prior written acknowledgments of her competence.”
Sterling contends she continued to report mistreatment throughout 2024. Despite this, no corrective action was taken.
“The ongoing discrimination and retaliation took a severe toll on Ms. Sterling's health and wellbeing,” her lawsuit states.
She took two separate leaves of absence, including July 14, 2024 through Sept. 13, 2024 and Dec. 22, 2024 through Jan. 31, 2025.
She ultimately resigned and was constructively discharged Jan. 8, 2025, saying she was “unable to bear the prospect of returning to the same retaliatory and discriminatory environment.”
Constructive discharge, in legal terms, refers to an employee's resignation being treated as if they were fired, even though they technically quit. This happens when an employer creates working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person would feel compelled to resign.
Sterling seeks back pay, front pay, lost benefits; compensatory damages for her emotional distress and mental anguish; punitive damages; liquidated damages; and attorneys’ fees and costs.
Daniel, Williams & Associates PLLC of Houston, Texas, is representing Sterling in the action.
