Customer service rep sues DTE: I was forced to stay on phone with masturbating customer

DTE has been hit with an unusual sexual harassment lawsuit involving a customer service representative who says she was taunted at work — not by a colleague or a boss, but by a customer who allegedly masturbated over the phone in multiple calls, told her he was naked, and asked her if she liked it.

The woman says she complained to a supervisor about the harasser, but was told she couldn't hang up on the caller due to company policy that prohibits hanging up on customers. Such tactics can impact a service rep's metrics, performance rating, bonus entitlement, and possibly their continued employment, she noted.

So, she put up with his filth, she says, until she couldn't anymore.

'I just wanted them to say, 'You can hang up'

After more than a year of working for DTE, 40-year-old Angela Rodriguez of Trenton, took a medical leave in February 2023 and eventually filed a harassment complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Three months after reporting DTE to the nation's top employment cops she got fired from her $19.99-per-hour job.

On Friday, with a right-to-sue letter in hand from the EEOC, Rodriguez sued her former employer in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleging the $12-billion utility giant forced women to put up with sexual harassers on the phone, or risk having poor performance reviews, their bonuses cut, or even losing their jobs.

"I just wanted them to say, 'Yes, you can hang up on them,'" said Rodriguez, who alleges DTE knew the same caller had been harassing other women over the phone, but did nothing to stop him, or protect its employees. Especially daunting for her, she said, was that she worked remotely from home for DTE when the sexual predator was randomly routed to her line.

"That’s part of why it hit me really hard — I started not sleeping and having nightmares of this person being in my house, someone I don’t even know what his face looks like ... I just broke down" said Rodriguez, who said she struggled to comprehend what was happening on the other end of her line.

"I more or less froze," she said. "It took me a minute to realize what was happening."

According to Rodriguez, the same man called her three times in eight months, pretending he was trying to resolve an outstanding $500 utility bill, but using the time instead to sexually torment her.

DTE defends employment practices

In a statement to the Free Press late Monday, DTE defended its employment practices involving customer service representatives, stating: "We provide essential energy to millions of people throughout Michigan, and unfortunately that includes a very small number of people who behave inappropriately when they contact us. Our customer service representatives may transfer calls they feel are inappropriate to their leader, and we have mental health resources to help employees who need additional support."

As for whether customer service reps are prohibited from hanging up on callers, as alleged in the lawsuit, the company would not say. "We can’t comment specifically on pending litigation," the statement said.

According to the 20-page lawsuit, as well as interviews with both Rodriguez and her lawyer, here is what drove the Trenton mother to sue the billion-dollar utility giant:

'I genuinely thought he was an older man who wanted help'

Rodriguez was hired as a customer service rep at DTE in September 2021. She was assigned to the Detroit office with a fully remote schedule that allowed her to work from home, answering customer calls about billing, gas leaks, outages and getting service turned on or off.

The calls initially went to a DTE call center, which randomly assigned the callers to service reps, who identify themselves by name when answering.

Seven months into her job, Rodriguez received her first disturbing call from a male, 30-something sexual harasser identified only as Customer X. He owed an outstanding $500 utility bill. DTE knew his name, alias, phone numbers, social security number and date of birth, and maintained audio recordings of his calls, including the April 7, 2022, call to Rodriguez, when he masturbated over the phone and forced her to listen.

"I didn’t realize what was going on at first," Rodriguez said in a Free Press interview. "I genuinely thought he was an older man who wanted help."

But, she said, he blindsided her. His questions about resolving a bill turned into lewd behavior that would repeat itself in future phone calls, including: Telling Rodriguez that he was naked; asking her if she liked that and what she was wearing; telling her that her voice was sexy, and "breathing quickly and making the unmistakable sounds of masturbation."

He also called Rodriguez by her first name while masturbating and made additional raunchy comments.

'DTE knew who he was ... He had been doing this for who knows how long'

After the first incident, Rodriguez reported him to her supervisor, who told her that she was familiar with Customer X, "and knew that he had previously called other female (customer service reps) and sexually harassed them."

Rodriguez suggested to her supervisor that DTE block the man's number. But the supervisor said that pursuant to DTE policy, "this was not an option" because the man may need to reach the company in an emergency.

Rodriguez asked if she could hang up on Customer X if he called again, but her supervisor said no to that, too, also citing DTE policy. But the supervisor did tell Rodriguez that she would report the sexual misconduct to Corporate Security.

That never happened.

"The first time I reported it, DTE knew who he was," Rodriguez said. "He had been doing this for who knows how long."

'I couldn't just disconnect this call — it would affect my bonuses'

One month later came a second harassing call from Customer X, who again engaged in sexual behavior.

"That second call, I told him I knew who he was and that he could make a payment or I would get off the phone," Rodriguez recalled, noting her family's finances weighed heavily on her as she dealt with this abusive customer.

"I couldn’t just disconnect this call, it would affect my bonuses. I have four kids," Rodriquez said, adding: "I really didn’t say a whole lot."

During these calls, she said, she would try to get the man refocused on paying his bill, and once got him to commit to paying $50.

Employee reaches breaking point, 'feels totally betrayed'

Eight months later she received her third and final harassing call. It was Jan. 28, 2023. She was working in her bedroom and her husband was home. When the perp called and taunted her again, she got so upset and overcome with anxiety that she called work and asked if she could take a break to collect herself.

"It’s a very overwhelming feeling. I felt, in a way, attacked," Rodriguez said, stressing there was no one "coming in to help me ... I really broke down because I thought, 'I'm stuck.'"

Rodriguez said her supervisor wasn't empathetic. Her harasser's number couldn't be blocked. And she was told repeatedly she couldn't hang up on him.

Consequently, Rodriguez's anxieties and fears over more sexual harassment grew, as did her concerns that if she did something wrong, she would face negative consequences at work, and possibly lose her job.

So, on Feb. 10, 2023, she began a psychiatric disability leave of absence "due to the intolerable working conditions of the sexually hostile work environment," and DTE’s failure to investigate and stop the harassment, the lawsuit states.

During this leave, she also filed a complaint with the EEOC. Two months later, DTE terminated her job "because she was unable to return to work due to psychological disability caused by DTE’s violation of her civil rights," the suit states.

DTE, however, did make some policy changes — though not until learning that Rodriguez had hired a lawyer: prominent Royal Oak attorney Cary McGehee, a civil rights expert who has handled numerous landmark cases, including class actions against the Michigan Department of Corrections on behalf of women and youth who were sexually assaulted while incarcerated, and the Flint Water Class Action that resulted in a $624 million settlement.

According to McGehee, after she wrote DTE a letter about her client's claims, the company implemented a new policy that allows customer service reps to put an offensive caller on hold and transfer them to a supervisor. DTE also "finally" informed female reps that it had identified the caller who had been sexually harassing multiple women, she said.

"This is something they could have done long ago, but they couldn't even bother to do that. It's just outrageous," McGehee said. "I just don’t know the breadth of how many women were subjected to this man."

For McGehee, DTE's actions amount to an act of betrayal.

"The big thing is that Angela was lied to. And they did not provide her with any protection despite knowing what was going on," McGehee said. "They required her, as a condition of employment, to tolerate and endure sexual harassment that included masturbation on the phone."

This was too much to bear for her client, she said.

"Ultimately for Angela, it resulted in her having an emotional breakdown. She was hoping to have a career with DTE, move up the ladder," McGehee said. "And now she feels totally betrayed by this company … When this kind of things happens, it's a total betrayal."

Tresa Baldas is an award-winning courts and legal issues reporter and was awarded the 2023 Wade H. McCree Award for the Advancement of Justice by the Michigan Press Association. Contact her at tbaldas@freepress.com