Chuck E. Cheese’s sign
CHARLESTON – Three additional lawsuits have been filed claiming former employees suffered and witnessed repeated sexual misconduct at the Chuck E. Cheese’s location in Charleston.
Ian K. Cooper, Kelsie L. Vasquez and Mary E. Smith each have filed lawsuits in recent months against CEC Entertainment doing business as Chuck E. Cheese’s. Ryan Slade, who was a manager, also is named as a defendant in the lawsuits.
The first lawsuit was filed last year.
Bailess
“These four lawsuits reveal Chuck E. Cheese’s tolerated sexual harassment and retaliated against employees who tried to stop it,” said Todd Bailess, who representing the former workers in complaints. “These cases highlight Chuck E. Cheese’s knew about serious safety issues impacting its employees, customers, and the children who visited this restaurant for more than three years, but corporate management failed to act.
“It continued to put women and underage teens in the line of fire by placing them under the supervision of a repeated offender.”
In Smith’s complaint, she says knowingly allowed Slade to “cripple the self-esteem of its female workforce – including minors – by fostering a toxic work environment infested with sexual harassment.”
Smith began working at the restaurant in 2022 when she was a high school student. She says she chose to work there because of her positive experiences there as a child and enjoyed being around children.
She says she was exposed to sexually hostile working conditions by Slade, who she claims groomed her for sex, flirted with her at work, bought her food, gave her unwanted compliments, make inappropriate comments about her body, engaged in inappropriate touching of her body, interfered with her relationship with her boyfriend and became jealous when another employee expressed interest in her.
Smith says co-worker Dakota Harper also made her uncomfortable by constantly flirting with her. She says she quit the job on March 28, 2023, because of the hostile working conditions.
After she turned 18 a few months later, she says Slade sent her a message saying, “Hey Mary how are you doing? This might be weird but I was wondering if I can message you to get to know you more?”
Smith accuses CEC of sexual harassment, hostile work environment and Slade of sexual harassment. She accuses both defendants of constructive discharge.
“Despite being warned of defendant Slade by employees, non-employees and a mother of a minor employee, Chuck E. Cheese’s chose to retain defendant Slade without any safeguards to prevent him from engaging in sexual harassment,” Smith’s complaint states. “Consequently, plaintiff, who was a minor in her first ever job, was subjected to lewd sexual harassment by defendant Slade.”
Vasquez makes similar allegations in her complaint. She says she worked at the restaurant on two occasions – once in 2022 and again starting in January 2024. She was pregnant during her second stint.
“While defendant Slade made Plaintiff feel uncomfortable the first time she worked at Chuck E. Cheese’s, he was more sexually aggressive during her second time working for the company in 2024,” her complaint states. “Defendant Slade made sexually inappropriate comments to her regarding her pregnancy. On at least four separate occasions, defendant Slade gave unwanted compliments to Plaintiff about how good she looked pregnant.
“While looking plaintiff up and down with his eyes, defendant Slade told plaintiff that he ‘loved pregnant women.’ He also told Plaintiff that he wished his girlfriend/fiancé got pregnant again. Based on defendant Slade’s demeanor toward her, Plaintiff perceived that defendant Slade wanted to have sex with her because she was pregnant.”
Vasquez says Slade also talked about his sex life constantly, sometimes openly discussing it while customers and children were at the restaurant. She also says Slade inappropriately touched her arms, back and shoulders. She said she quit the job on May 15, 2024.
Cooper was an assistant manager at the restaurant. He says CEC “fostered a toxic work environment infested with sexual harassment” during his time there by allowing Slade to sexually harass female employees.
When he reported to upper management about Slade getting “touchy-feely” with female employees, Cooper says CEC retaliated against him by authorizing Slade to fire him.
Cooper says he worked for CEC on three occasions starting in 2018. He says female employees complained to him of Slade’s conduct. He also says Slade violated teenagers and mothers with children dining at the restaurant by remarking on their bodies.
In her complaint filed last August, Wright says she was propositioned for sex by Slade and Harper, received constant feedback about her body and appearance and repeatedly experienced unwanted touching of her body. She was a high school student at the time.
Wright also claims she was physically violated by Slade while working when he smacked the back of her thigh, rubbed her hips, grabbed her hands and brushed up against her body on different occasions during the nine months she worked at the restaurant.
Other incidents described in Wright’s complaint include Slade grabbing Wright’s hand and sliding a fake diamond ring from the store’s prize section on her finger as well as him calling female co-workers bitches and multiple times when she caught Slade staring at her “with no eye contact break.”
Wright’s mother eventually contacted Chuck E. Cheese’s corporate office to report the daughter’s experience.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Bailess, Jodi R. Durham and Cory B. Lowe of Bailess Law Firm in Charleston.
Kanawha Circuit Court case numbers 24-C-898 (Wright), 25-C-171 (Cooper), 25-C-229 (Vasquez) and 25-C-306 (Smith)
