(Bloomberg) -- A woman who claimed she was assaulted and faced racial and sexual harassment while working at the former Trump SoHo hotel can move forward with a previously dismissed lawsuit.
Shakera Gordon, a mini-bar attendant, says an employee grabbed her by the hair and held a box-cutter to her throat in 2012. Gordon, who is African American, claims other employees insulted and intimidated her using sexual and racial slurs. Rather than stop the conduct when she reported it, hotel managers allowed it to continue and retaliated, she says.
A lawsuit she filed against the former owner of the hotel, Bayrock Sapir Organization LLC, was dismissed in 2016. On Thursday, a Manhattan state appeals court reinstated some of her claims, finding she may be able to show she was "treated differently" or "less well" than other employees.
"We're looking forwarding to litigating this matter," said Leopold Raic, Gordon's lawyer.
The Trump Organization partnered with the Bayrock Group on a series of real estate deals from about 2002 to 2011, including the former Trump SoHo. The hotel has since been taken over by private equity firm CIM Group and Trump is no longer affiliated with the property. His organization isn't named as a defendant.
A lawyer for Bayrock Sapir, Diane Windholz, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christie Smythe in Brooklyn at csmythe1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Paul Cox, Elizabeth Wollman
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