Management allegedly told him to "drop it" — then fired him
A GM employee says he was fired for reporting anti-transgender harassment at work. The EEOC determined the company failed to prevent it.
What allegedly happened inside a General Motors team in 2024 reads less like a workplace dispute and more like a step-by-step guide on how not to handle a harassment complaint.
Elve Hillman, who joined GM in 2012 as a contract employee and became full-time in 2014, was most recently a member of the company's chassis team. He filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of Michigan on February 21, 2026, accusing the automaker of discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation, hostile work environment, and retaliation. The case has not yet been decided, and GM has not filed a response.
According to the filing, the trouble started when Hillman helped a transgender colleague named Jane, who worked on a different team, with a task. He asked Jane to sit with him while they worked. That simple act, Hillman alleges, set off a chain of events no HR department would want on its record.
He was accused of seating Jane in his team's section to offend his co-workers. Then, during a team meeting, a colleague named Thomas Griffin allegedly launched into a rant, making threatening and offensive comments about Jane based on sex and sexual orientation. Hillman's team lead, Matt Mombar, allegedly laughed along before telling Griffin to stop — several times — after noticing Hillman was visibly uncomfortable. Even after the rant, Griffin reportedly told Hillman that "nobody on our team wants that person to sit near us, even Matt."
Hillman says he reported the incident and was told it would go to HR. Days passed. Nothing changed. When he followed up and sought guidance from leaders in other groups, he was called into a meeting with his supervisor and team lead. Their response, according to the filing: his complaints would be taken to HR, and he should "drop it."
On June 9, 2024, Hillman was terminated. He alleges the firing was retaliation for raising concerns about discrimination and harassment — at a company that, according to the filing, maintained a zero-tolerance policy on exactly that kind of conduct.
Hillman filed a charge with the EEOC on or about July 29, 2024. The agency investigated and determined that he "was subjected to harassment on the basis of race" and that GM "failed to prevent harassment on the basis of race over a seven-month period." The EEOC issued a Right to Sue letter on December 1, 2025.
Hillman is now seeking compensatory, exemplary, and punitive damages in excess of $75,000 under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. He has demanded a jury trial.
For HR professionals, the allegations in this case trace a familiar and avoidable arc: a manager who laughed along before stepping in, a complaint that went nowhere for days, a follow-up dismissed with two words, and an employee who lost his job after raising concerns the company's own policy was designed to address.
The case is Hillman v. General Motors, L.L.C., Case No. 2:26-cv-10609 (E.D. Mich.).
