Four suits have been filed against the agency over the past year.<\/b>
\nTwo women formerly employed by Hyundai\u2019s ad agency Innocean USA filed suit last month against the company in California\u2019s Orange County Superior Court, seeking damages and jury trials.
Their claims include negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful termination, gender discrimination and statutory assault and battery. When combined with two earlier suits reported by Adweek in March, four women have now sued the agency over the past year.
Innocean\u2019s lawyers have not filed a response in either case. \u201cInnocean does not comment on active litigation,\u201d said a company representative.
\u2018A rowdy college fraternity\u2019
Lawyers for Carol Lombard Seelig, the agency\u2019s former vp and director of integrated production, filed one suit on Aug. 22. It alleges that Seelig was subjected to a hostile work environment by now-former chief creative officer Eric Springer, who is named as a co-defendant in the suit. Seelig also claims that after nearly three years at the agency, she felt pushed out following a medical leave.
According to someone close to the matter, Seelig was replaced by a freelancer named Victoria Guenier, a former colleague of Springer who would later go on to sue him and Innocean for sexual harassment and wrongful termination.
Seelig, described by a former colleague as \u201cwell-liked\u201d and respected in the industry, worked at several agencies, including David&Goliath and Y&R, before heading to Innocean in mid-2014 to lead its production team. The following year, she was diagnosed with Laing distal myopathy, a genetic muscle disorder that affects one\u2019s mobility.
The suit claims Innocean\u2019s culture \u201crapidly devolved into that of a rowdy college fraternity\u201d after the agency brought on Springer as CCO in January 2016 \u201cdespite the fact that he was generally known within the advertising industry as a bully.\u201d It alleges that Seelig and other employees were \u201cpressured to engage in excessive alcohol use\u201d at events, that Springer repeatedly demeaned her by loudly demanding that she explain why she had to walk with a crutch, and that he had a habit of making \u201cdemeaning comments about women generally.\u201d
Specifically, the suit mentions the internal Velvet Hammer award, which Springer created soon after taking the job and allegedly named in reference to a slang term describing a sexual act. (Urban Dictionary lists several definitions, ranging from a sex act to a female leader who is good at her job).
A former Innocean employee told Adweek the award was \u201csupposed to recognize those who had gone above and beyond to push through innovative work.\u201d The object itself, which stood on display in the office lobby, consisted of an upside-down purple hammer. Adweek\u2019s source and the lawsuit claim that multiple employees, including Seelig, objected to the award as a sexist, phallic symbol and suggested its name and appearance be changed.
A party close to the agency provided the image below.
According to the suit, Springer did not respond well to this criticism and \u201cretaliated against [Seelig]\u201d by changing her job duties to require more travel in addition to \u201cdemand[ing] that she attend an all-night production immediately prior to a business trip to Chicago.\u201d
Seelig claims she reported this incident to HR, which declined to investigate. She went on short-term disability leave in May 2016 to seek treatment for her condition and eventually resigned from Innocean in February 2017 \u201cdue to the hostile work environment imposed upon\u201d her, according to the suit.
Springer declined to comment for this story. He and the agency agreed to part ways after the Guenier case was settled in July.
Seelig is asking for unspecified damages due to emotional distress, disability discrimination and negligence. Allegations of assault and battery
Lawyers representing Innocean\u2019s former media investment supervisor Joan Veronica Baker also filed a lawsuit in the same court on Aug. 17. It names the agency, its South Korean parent company, and vp, director of media consolidation Rebecca Rogers as defendants, accusing Rogers of a range of violations.
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Patrick Coffee
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Patrick Coffee is a senior editor for Adweek.<\/p>\n

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