From allegations of racism and disability discrimination to shameful hiring records, discover Maureen “Molly” Gellerman’s controversial past and why she can’t be trusted as a human resources executive.
While Gellerman was helping lead Human Resources at Target…
The EEOC alleged Target refused to hire Black applicants for assistant-store-manager positions and failed to preserve required hiring records. Target paid over half-a-million dollars.
The EEOC also found Target's corporate hiring assessments disproportionately screened out applicants based on race and sex, while another violated the ADA. Target paid $2.8 million.
The EEOC accused Target of "creating and condoning a racially hostile work environment" at a Pennsylvania store. According to the EEOC, a white store manager subjected Black employees to racially inappropriate comments and verbal abuse. The EEOC also alleged that when a complaint was made, Target failed to appropriately respond. The agency also accused Target of retaliation. Target settled for $775,000 covering 14 Black employees.
Target HR allegedly stopped the interview process for a deaf applicant after discovering the applicant used a sign-language relay service. The EEOC eventually sued Target over the incident.
The EEOC alleged Target failed to accommodate an employee with multiple sclerosis and that a supervisor disclosed her disability to a prospective employer. Target paid almost $100,000.
The EEOC alleged Target failed to reasonably accommodate an employee with cerebral palsy. Target paid $160,000.
Furthermore, when Gellerman left Target in 2015, after 15 years in HR there, the company had a whopping 91% non-diverse leadership team, a 69% non-diverse Board, and 69% non-diverse managers. After just one year without Gellerman in HR? Leadership went from 9% to 25% diverse, while diversity among the Board and managers also grew.
Meanwhile, she had become VP of HR at Domino’s.
According to the EEOC, while Gellerman was leading HR at Domino’s, Black employees at a franchise location in New York were subjected to persistent racial harassment by white managers. The EEOC alleged the managers openly and repeatedly used racial slurs during shifts. One manager allegedly mimicked a slave owner while referring to a Black employee as "boy."
The EEOC said Black employees repeatedly complained, but management failed to correct the behavior. When one Black employee objected to a white coworker's use of a racial slur, a manager allegedly approached him intimidatingly and repeated the slur. Another employee complained to the owner and was subsequently threatened with scissors by a manager.
Then, despite the complaints, according to the EEOC: one of the managers was promoted and the other received a pay raise.
And in a separate incident, one state’s civil-rights agency brought an enforcement action against a Domino’s franchisee after a male delivery driver alleged that his manager repeatedly subjected him to verbal and physical sexual harassment, including unwanted touching occurring as frequently as several times per day. From an HR perspective, the employee alleged that he reported the manager internally and the company failed to take meaningful action.
The Department of Fair Employment and Housing investigated and found cause to believe that violations of the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act had occurred. The agency sued, and in 2021, the franchisee agreed to pay $165,000 and implement reforms.
Plus, when Gellerman left in 2022, after six years leading HR there, Domino’s admitted to having only one Black executive. It also had over 4x the number of white mid-level officials than Black ones. What a shameful HR record.
