The complaint says his pay dropped and discipline piled up after he went to HR
A former Hershey worker says he reported harassment to HR for months, got a brochure instead of help, then lost his job.
The account comes from a complaint filed on July 15, 2026, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against The Hershey Company. The plaintiff, who worked as a production operator at the company's chocolate plant in Stuarts Draft, Virginia, alleges sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, retaliation, disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, and wrongful termination.
The case is worth a read for HR leaders less for its headline brand than for how, according to the filing, the complaints were handled once they reached HR.
The worker alleges that starting in mid-2023, a line supervisor repeatedly touched him without consent and made comments about his body and clothes. He says he first told his relief manager in May 2023, and that the manager brushed the concerns aside. When he escalated to HR, the complaint alleges, no one affirmatively followed up.
The response is where the story lands for HR readers. According to the filing, the worker broke down in tears during meetings with an HR business partner. Her answer, the complaint says, was to hand him a brochure for the company's employee-assistance provider and tell him to "get help." The filing alleges she never told him about his medical-leave rights and never engaged in the kind of interactive discussion the company's own policies describe. It argues Hershey failed to follow its written commitments on prompt investigation and accommodation.
Then, the complaint says, came retaliation. Soon after a June 5, 2023 meeting in which he reported the conduct, his pay was cut from $26 to $24 an hour, according to the filing. He was written up for "Unnecessary time away from work area," a warning that was later rescinded. A five-member peer-review panel was "appalled" by what he described, the complaint alleges, and told the HR business partner she had "greatly mishandled the situation."
The filing goes on to describe conduct under a later supervisor, including a coworker's comment that he "liked to blow," which the supervisor allegedly laughed off while calling him "too sensitive." The worker applied for intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act in early 2024.
He was suspended in June 2024 and fired later that month - at a point when, the complaint says, he was still on approved FMLA leave and his accommodation request had not been resolved.
The suit brings claims under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the FMLA, the Virginia Human Rights Act, and Virginia common law, and seeks back pay, front pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorneys' fees.
The allegations have not been tested, and no court has ruled on any of the claims.
