A woman suing Northrop Grumman for sexual harassment violated a court order by walking out of a deposition in November and refusing to appear for a follow-up session two days later, the company alleges in new court papers.
In her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, Elizabeth Ann Green alleges that after she complained about being sexually harassed by a manager, she was marginalized, her hours were cut and that she was wrongfully terminated from her job as a process equipment coordinator in 2023.
Green further contends that the company made a false accusation that she was untruthful about her jury duty service in order to justify terminating her. On Friday, NG attorneys filed court papers with Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis stating that Green left her deposition halfway through the Nov. 4 session and stayed in the building lobby when proceedings were to resume in a conference room on Nov. 6.
“Further, during the Nov. 4, deposition, plaintiff was instructed not to answer and did not answer questions that were not prevented by privilege or privacy,” the NG lawyers further state in their pleadings.
Green’s actions were in violation of the judge’s Sept. 23 order and NG attorneys are asking the judge to issue $15,000 in sanctions jointly against Green and her attorneys. A hearing is scheduled Jan. 16.
NG attorneys say Green began stalling at sitting for a deposition in April, a month after the suit’s March 12 filing. The defense lawyers also deny Green’s allegations, say they are barred by the statute of limitation and that any actions taken concerning her were for legitimate business reasons.
“Plaintiff is the only witness in possession of much of the evidence that would support the causes of action she has asserted against defendants, but she has evaded her deposition for more than four months,” NG lawyers argued in their court papers filed in August.
Green worked for NG from January 1985 to June 1998 and again from January 2008 to July 2023 as a process equipment coordinator. In 2021, Green was given a new manager who was a “sexist with a gender bias,” the suit states.
Green also maintains she was harassed by a married employee whose sexual propositions she had rebuffed in 2014. After reporting the alleged sexual harassment, Green’s overtime hours were sharply reduced on weekends, according to her complaint.
Green was further marginalized in 2023 when another manager told her not to perform any of her normal job duties, handed her a bottle of Simple Green industrial cleanser and rags and told her that her job was to clean the shop, which she did for a few weeks, according to the suit.
Green was terminated in July 2023 and was falsely told in a letter that she had concealed that she had not fulfilled a summons for jury duty and lied when asked about it, the suit states.