She says she begged HR for a transfer - and kept working beside the man she accused
Her boss harassed her for months, a new lawsuit says - and HR did nothing to stop it.
That allegation sits at the center of a complaint filed June 3, 2026, in Manhattan federal court against Compass Group USA and its operating company, CulinArt. The plaintiff, suing anonymously as Jane Doe, brings claims of sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, retaliation, and constructive discharge under Title VII, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law, along with assault and battery.
For HR leaders, the story is less about the relationship at its center than about what the complaint says happened every time the worker spoke up.
According to the filing, she was hired in December 2024 as a Room Service Associate at a Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer-care center, earning about $22.50 an hour. Her supervisor, the complaint alleges, began closely shadowing her during her first training shifts. The filing says he told her that other staff had wanted her hired because of her appearance, and that she later felt pressured to enter a relationship with him after he signaled she owed him for the job. The plaintiff alleges the relationship "quickly turned unhealthy and abusive," with the supervisor punishing her at work whenever they argued. He is not named as a defendant in the case.
Then comes the part HR readers will recognize: a months-long trail of reports that, the plaintiff says, led nowhere.
In March 2025, a coworker flagged the relationship to HR. The plaintiff says she was directed to submit a written statement and that her supervisor pressured her to deny the relationship. She also asked a CulinArt HR business partner for a transfer. According to the complaint, the request was refused, she was told the company needed her at the center, and she was told not to let anybody "run her out of her job."
In July 2025, the plaintiff says she told a Compass HR advisor she feared for her safety. The filing alleges the advisor responded that her supervisor did not have as much power as he thought, adding, "I got you, girl." No corrective action followed, the plaintiff alleges, and the supervisor's conduct toward her then became physically threatening.
The complaint also alleges that the dining director brushed off her concerns, urged her to "talk it out" with the supervisor, and later clocked her out without her consent after she contacted HR. A company investigation into the director, the filing says, found no evidence of unfair or inappropriate treatment.
The plaintiff says matters came to a head on August 12, 2025, in an incident outside the center that drew bystanders and police. She says she obtained a Temporary Order of Protection on August 19, 2025, and resigned on August 25, 2025, citing "ongoing harassment" - a departure she frames as constructive discharge, meaning conditions were made so intolerable she had no real choice but to leave.
Throughout, the complaint alleges, the two were never separated, and the supervisor stayed employed and unreprimanded.
For HR teams, the allegations land as a string of process questions. How are transfer requests handled when safety is raised? Is a complainant kept shoulder to shoulder with the person she accuses? How are investigations scoped before they are closed? And what happens when an employee says plainly that she is afraid? The plaintiff alleges Compass and CulinArt operated as joint employers and that both "acted as Human Resources" - a reminder that contracted, multi-entity staffing does not dilute who owns the duty to respond.
The allegations have not been tested in court. The defendants have not yet filed a response, and no court has ruled.
