Key Takeaways
- Former Comcast retail employee David Figueroa claims a Plainville, Connecticut Xfinity store ran a sales “punishment” ritual where underperformers were tied to a chair and hit in the face with cream pies while managers filmed and coworkers watched.
- The lawsuit says a whiteboard tracked sales with emojis, marking low performers with a pie-covered unhappy face to show who had been or would be “assaulted,” and alleges Figueroa quit within a month because the store became a “hostile and violent work environment.”
- Comcast denies the allegations, citing a “zero tolerance” policy for harassment, even as it faces other worker lawsuits and has previously paid over $7.2 million in employment-discrimination penalties amid recent profit and broadband-customer losses.
At one Comcast store, finishing last allegedly meant getting tied to a chair and taking a cream pie to the face.
That’s the stunning claim at the center of a new lawsuit filed by former Comcast retail employee David Figueroa. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Figueroa alleges management at a Plainville, Connecticut, Xfinity store turned weak sales numbers into a public punishment ritual—complete with restraints, cheering coworkers, and cameras rolling.
Figueroa joined the store as a retail sales consultant in February. Before the month was over, he says he watched a coworker get strapped to a chair and pied by an employee with better sales numbers. According to the complaint, the store manager ordered the February 25 incident, stood by as it happened, and recorded it.
Employees also allegedly showed Figueroa another video in which an assistant sales manager was pied over a poor customer survey score.
And this was allegedly no spontaneous office prank.
The lawsuit says management tracked sales on a whiteboard displayed in the back office. Each employee’s name appeared beside an emoji. The lowest performer got an unhappy face covered in pie—a symbol that allegedly marked workers who had already been subjected to the ritual or were next up.
The complaint says the board “identified the employees who either had been recently assaulted or were scheduled to be assaulted in this way.”
Figueroa says he quickly realized his own numbers could put him in the chair. He took his concerns to a regional manager, who allegedly asked him to send a text documenting what was happening. According to the lawsuit, no response ever came.
Figueroa quit less than a month after he was hired, claiming the store had become a “hostile and violent work environment.”
He is now seeking damages from Comcast for alleged financial, emotional, and reputational harm. The store manager was not named as a defendant, and Comcast declined to say whether she still works for the company.
Comcast disputes Figueroa’s account.
“The Company has zero tolerance for harassment, humiliation, or any behavior that compromises a respectful and safe workplace,” spokesperson John Demming said. “We disagree with the claims in the complaint and its characterization of the alleged events, and intend to fully respond through the legal process.”
The lawsuit gives Comcast another employee battle to fight. A separate proposed class action filed in July alleges the company improperly deducted a $25 tobacco surcharge from workers’ paychecks. Former executives Lawrence Gloss and Travis Rosiek have also accused Comcast of retaliating against them after they questioned the handling of $250 million in promised bonuses following the company’s BluVector acquisition.
Data compiled by Good Jobs First’s Violation Tracker shows Comcast has paid more than $7.2 million in employment-discrimination penalties over the years.
