American Dream Worker Sues Mall, Claiming Racist, Sexual Remarks

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - A former patrol officer at American Dream sued the Meadowlands mega-mall, claiming she was dismissed from her post for objecting to a discriminatory, hostile work environment.

Shonna Dubose, a 33-year-old Rochelle Park resident who worked at the mall from August through October 2019, filed a lawsuit Jan. 24 against American Dream, as well as two supervisors.

During her employment, Dubose, who is African American, claims co-workers routinely made “grossly offensive, racial comments” in her presence, according to the complaint.

Male colleagues also used racial slurs regularly and cracked sexual jokes about bodily fluids and genitalia, the complaint says.

Dubose also claims co-workers frequently used homophobic slurs, which she found “particularly offensive” because “she has a beloved friend who is gay,” the suit says.

On Oct. 19, Dubose complained to one of her supervisors and the following day, her higher-level supervisor “stated pointedly during a group meeting that ‘what goes around among us stays with us,’ and that ‘HR [human resources] does not want to be bothered by complaints,’” the lawsuit states.

The supervisor also “went on to say words to the effect that the language used among the officers was ‘just the way they were,’” according to the complaint.

Dubose claims a week later she was fired for allegedly stealing a phone charger from a mall tenant and that her supervisors came up with a false allegation in retaliation to “her complaint about the conduct in American Dream’s workplace,” the suit states.

Prior to working at American Dream, Dubose worked two jobs to support herself and her child but she gave up one to become a patrol officer at the mall.

“As a consequence of plaintiff’s subsequent termination by American Dream, she was left with one, low paying job,” the complaint states.

Working at the mall, the suit says, left Dubose feeling “by turns, angry, anxious and humiliated.”

“The discriminatory environment into which plaintiff was thrust was so severe and/or pervasive that a reasonable person of plaintiff’s race and gender would have felt that the work environment was hostile, and that the terms and conditions of her employment were poisoned,” the complaint also says.

Dubose is seeking damages for lost income, psychological and emotional harm and punitive damages, along with attorney fees and any other relief the court deems appropriate.

American Dream, the massive $5 billion shopping and entertainment venue, opened in October 2019.

An American Dream spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment Friday afternoon.