Shares of Signet Jewelers Ltd., with corporate offices in Akron, continued to plunge Tuesday, following a report released Monday evening by the Washington Post about allegations of widespread sexual harassment at the company.
Shares of the company that is one of the area’s largest employers were down $7.76, or 10.65 percent, to $65.12, at around 1:20 p.m.
The stock price has dropped by more than half since its 2015 high.
Meanwhile, Signet spokesman David A. Bouffard said in an e-mail Tuesday that “it is important to note that the Post’s story is “patently misleading,” and the company is seeking to have the Post “correct this inaccurate story.”
In a formal statement released Tuesday, Signet’s Sterling operations noted that none of the 69,000 class members in an ongoing class-action gender discrimination lawsuit — involving allegations of discrimination in pay and promotions — have brought legal claims “for sexual harassment or sexual impropriety.”
Signet’s Sterling Jewelers includes Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry and Zales stores, among other chains.
Sterling went on to say in the statement that the sexual-harassment allegations create “a distorted, negative image of the company,” and involve a “very small number of individuals in a workforce of more than 84,000 [during the period covered by the gender-discrimination class action lawsuit], and many allegations go back decades.”
According to the Washington Post report released Monday evening, hundreds of former employees of Signet’s Sterling Jewelers are saying female workers were routinely groped, demeaned and urged to sexually cater to bosses to keep their jobs.
The allegations from about 250 women and men arose the arbitration related to the case. The case dates to 2008, when more than a dozen women first accused the company of gender discrimination.
The claims come on the heels of some other bad press for Signet.
Sales for the all important holiday season were disappointing. In its January earnings call, the company said its newly revamped e-commerce platform couldn’t handle holiday traffic.
Last year, there were allegations of gem-swapping by some customers at stores outside of Ohio.
The customers alleged that diamonds they had brought in for cleaning were swapped for other stones. The company has said the allegations were “misleading” and grossly amplified on social media.
Last year, Signet, which bills itself as the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry, said in an annual report that it could face “substantial damages” if it loses the class-action case involving pay and promotions discrimination.
A company spokesman issued a statement to the Washington Post denying the allegations in the newspaper’s report.
Read the full report at www.washingtonpost.com.
Signet employs about 3,000 people in Summit County, including workers at area stores.
Sterling said in its statement issued Tuesday that the company takes any sexual-harassment concerns “seriously and had — and continues to have — multiple processes in place to receive and investigate allegations of misconduct.”
Concerning the allegations of pay and promotions discrimination in the case, Sterling said, “We have thoroughly investigated the allegations and have concluded they are not substantiated by the facts and certainly do not reflect our culture.”
Sterling noted that “as a result of our employment and advancement programs, as well as our culture, more than 68 percent of all our store management staff are female, and female participation in management positions continues to grow.”