a menacing way. When Russell interviewed Theus, she claims she identified two

incidents that took place on April 7, 2008, before she was placed on administrative leave: 1) a

female coworker had intentionally bumped into her shoulder, and 2) a male coworker had followed

her, observed her being pulled over by the police, and told everyone at work about it.

       Following his investigation, Russell determined that there was substantial evidence that

Theus violated GSK’s Employee Conduct Policy and Violence-Free Workplace Policy. Russell

consulted with GSK’s legal department and senior HR employee and decided to terminate Theus’s

employment as of April 25, 2008. Russell did not consult with either Smith or his supervisors,

Hudson and Martin, in making the decision to terminate Theus.


                                                 4
No. 10-5649
Theus v. Glaxosmithkline


           Theus filed suit in state court on April 7, 2009, against GSK and Michael Smith, claiming

that her coworkers—and for the first time her supervisor, Michael Smith—sexually harassed her at

work and that she was fired for complaining about it. She also claimed for the first time that her

coworkers had propositioned her for sex, spread false sexual rumors about her, and offered to pay

her for sex, and that two specific coworkers touched her in