Urban One was recently hit with a class-action suit from two women, Desiree Lucas and Dominique Hinton, both claiming unpaid overtime and sexual harassment.
Former VP of Programming Dave “Hurricane Dave” Smith is not a defendant in the case but he is named in the lawsuit for sexual harassment. Smith was terminated this past August when another female employee Shorty Mack stated he sexually harassed and assaulted her. Smith has since filed a countersuit against her for defamation.
In the new class-action suit, the women state they were paid less than $13.00 an hour with one of them stating the rate had not changed in eight years. Both believe male employees who did similar jobs were/are paid more than they were/are. Hinton was terminated from the station while Lucas is still an employee.
For the Hurricane Dave portion of the suit, sexual advances were allegedly made to Hinton with statements like:
- “What’s your favorite sex position?”
- “I think about you. Do you think about me?”
- “I think about you when I’m having sex with my wife.”
Both women stated Hurricane allegedly used the same line to them “If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”
The women state that when they refused the sexual advances they believe their hours were shortened by Smith and while an investigation ensued Smith went on the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage Cruise. They feel they were punished for taking the complaints to management. Read more about the suit from Rodney Ho of the AJC
