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Kauai resort employees amend lawsuit over locker room videos

LIHUE, Hawaii (AP) — Female employees of a Kauai resort have added claims of sexual harassment and retaliation to their class-action lawsuit filed after a male co-worker was accused of recording women in the employee locker room.

Attorneys for the employees have filed an amended complaint against Kauai Marriott Resort, claiming the hotel fostered a hostile work environment toward women, The Garden Island reported Tuesday.

The original lawsuit filed in September claims the resort’s response was negligent after the recording was reported to management.

The lawsuit names as defendants Marriott International Inc. and its subsidiary, Essex House Condominium Corp.

Resort general manager Paul Toner declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

Alan Ganir, a former housekeeping employee, was arrested in September and charged with first-degree violation of privacy. His criminal trial is scheduled for April.

The women found his cellphone in a toilet stall in the women’s locker room, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit said the phone was recording video of the stall and the changing area. The lawsuit also claims the women had been unknowingly recorded for more than a year.

“The plaintiffs’ attorneys know as well as anyone that the accused in this country are innocent until proven guilty,” said Matt Mannisto, Ganir’s attorney. “Any comment or insinuation to the contrary is unfair to Mr. Ganir and risks undermining the proceedings currently pending in the Fifth Circuit.”

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