She filed complaints with HR multiple times — and says things only got worse
A twice-appointed interim manager at Adient US says she was denied the permanent role, racially harassed, and forced out after filing HR complaints.
Saundria Walker filed a federal lawsuit on April 8 in the Middle District of Tennessee (Walker v. Adient US, LLC, Case 1:26-cv-00032), alleging discrimination on the basis of race, sex, and age, as well as retaliation. No determination has been made in the case, and Adient has not yet responded.
Walker, a Black woman over 40, joined Adient's Columbia facility in January 2019 as a Supplier Quality Engineer. According to the filing, she received excellent performance reviews every year and had no disciplinary record. Over a three-year period, she says she was repeatedly passed over for the Quality Manager role while younger, less-qualified white employees were promoted.
The pattern described in the filing should give HR leaders pause. Adient placed Walker in the interim Quality Manager role on two separate occasions, once for six months and again for eight months. She alleges she also trained two people who went on to hold the position: Jennifer Winfree in 2020 and Jacob Dean in 2021. Yet the permanent title never came her way.
Dean, a white male whom Walker identifies as her main harasser, later selected Joey Hickey as the new Quality Manager on August 12, 2022, even though Hickey allegedly lacked the required certifications for the role. Dean also promoted Destany McLin to Quality Engineer that year, again allegedly without the necessary qualifications. The filing adds that all three employees degraded women by using derogatory language in the workplace.
Then there is the hair incident. Around September 2022, Walker alleges Dean told her he had left something hanging on a bulletin board near the production floor. When she looked, she found a piece of dirty, matted hair extensions hung on the board. Dean then allegedly asked whether the "Nappy" hair weave was hers. Walker says she was forced to change her hairstyle to prevent any further harassment.
What may concern HR professionals most is what followed. The filing states Walker had complained on numerous occasions about harassment based on her race, age, and sex, including filing an official complaint with Terri Sharp, Adient Columbia's HR Manager, in early July 2022. Walker alleges the retaliation only intensified from there. The company took her keys, phone, and computer, effectively forcing her out.
Walker is seeking more than $100,000 in damages, reinstatement with full backpay, and promotion to Quality Control Manager or a similar pay schedule.
For HR teams, the case is a pointed reminder: when employees bring concerns forward, what happens next can become the story itself.
