Jackson Spencer Law: Amazon’s ‘corporate apathy’ failed to protect vulnerable worker
DALLAS – A developmentally disabled Amazon warehouse employee who was abducted and sexually assaulted by a manager has filed a lawsuit claiming that the online retail giant failed to protect her from a supervisor with a history of sexual harassment complaints.
According to the lawsuit filed Wednesday by attorneys from Jackson Spencer Law, Amazon had been on notice after other female workers filed complaints against Mario Carranza. The company continued to employ him as a supervisor of a Texas Workforce Commission program for working adults with disabilities, according to the lawsuit.
“This traumatic and heartbreaking assault and subsequent indifference by Amazon has forever altered my client’s life,” said Jackson Spencer name partner Jennifer Spencer. “She loved going to work, which allowed her to feel accomplished and participate fully in society as a fully functioning individual. Because of this disgusting display of human indecency and corporate apathy, she may never work again.”
The woman, who began working at Amazon in 2021, has the cognitive level of a child and cannot consent to many things, including consensual sexual activity. The lawsuit was filed on her behalf by her father, who is her legal guardian.
According to the lawsuit, Mr. Carranza groomed the woman over several months to gain her confidence before abducting her after the woman’s father dropped her off for work in August 2023. She was taken to a nearby motel and sexually assaulted repeatedly.
Amazon managers and its HR department refused to cooperate after the woman’s father formally reported the abduction and assault and continued to employ Mr. Carranza, according to the lawsuit. During a separate Irving Police investigation, detectives reported that Amazon was uncooperative when they arrived with an arrest warrant for Mr. Carranza, and an officer had to threaten to “batter down the warehouse doors” before officers were allowed inside.
The lawsuit seeks damages for past and future physical and emotional pain and suffering, as well as mental anguish, medical expenses and loss of earning capacity, plus exemplary damages.
The case is Louis Williams, as legal guardian and next friend of Ashton Williams v. Amazon.com LLC et al., filed in Dallas County district court.
About Jackson Spencer Law
Jackson Spencer Law is a Dallas-based employment law firm representing employees who have been treated wrongfully in the workplace. For more information, visit JacksonSpencerLaw.com.
