From Thursday's decision by Judge Clifton Corker (E.D. Tenn.) in Williams v. Alkermes, Inc.:
Defendant Alkermes, Inc. is a large pharmaceutical company with a principal place of business in Waltham, Massachusetts. Plaintiff Travis Williams worked as Defendant's District Sales Manager in Knoxville, Tennessee for approximately thirteen years, selling a drug known as Vivitrol. In March 2023, Plaintiff and other District Business Leaders ("DBL") attended Defendant's national sales team meeting in Orlando, Florida. At the afternoon session on March 2, 2023, approximately 50 to 60 employees competed in a team-based game. During the game, referred to as the "Amazing Race," each DBL received a small paddle, the host of the game asked questions, the teams wrote their answers on the paddle, and the DBLs raced to an "X" at the front of the room. The goal of the game was to be the first one to stand on the X with the correct answer on the paddle.
Following the afternoon session, Jodi Garcia, a fellow DBL, reported to Michael Bauer, Defendant's Senior Regional Director, that Plaintiff "paddled her bottom" during the Amazing Race game. Ms. Garcia indicated that Johanna Hernandez, a Territory Business Manager, witnessed the incident. Mr. Bauer relayed Ms. Garcia's allegation to Stephanie Walker, Defendant's Director of Human Resources, but advised that he did not witness the alleged incident and did not see any inappropriate act by Plaintiff toward Ms. Garcia.
Four days later, Ms. Walker interviewed Ms. Garcia via telephone. Ms. Garcia stated, "In the hype of the game, we were all having fun running up and trying to beat out their counterparts; some light pushing, and shoving occurred by all the DBLs and the feeling in the room was fun competition" but added, "Travis hit me on the bottom with the white board and I turned to him and said, 'What the [f***] did you just do?' 'If my husband were here, he would [f***] you up.'" Ms. Garcia reiterated that Ms. Hernandez saw and heard what happened. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Walker interviewed Ms. Hernandez, who "claimed to have heard the sound of the paddle strike Garcia on the buttocks, recognizing the noise of the paddle on Garcia's bottom because [she] wore a jumpsuit rather than jeans." Ms. Hernandez also referenced that Ms. Garcia was the "only female DBL in leadership" but made no mention of seeing or hearing any confrontation or any cursing by her.
