The trial in a multi-million lawsuit against oilfield services giant Schlumberger, now SLB, for sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the field starts on July 17.
The plaintiff is Jessica Cheatham, a former Schlumberger engineer who worked on oil rigs in various US states. The trial will be held in US District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, with Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt scheduled to preside.
Cheatham is represented by lawyers from three companies – Sanford Heisler Sharp, Shellist Lazaraz Slobin, and Wage and Hour Firm.
She was employed by Schlumberger as a field engineer on its Texas oil rigs starting in September 2017. Early in her employment, she was harassed by a male colleague who used sexually explicit terms in demonstrating how to use tools and made other sexually suggestive remarks. Although she reported this to HR, such comments from other men continued.
In September 2019, Cheatham again reported gender discrimination to a supervisor but was told that she was banned from working on many of the rigs serviced by Schlumberger. Following a formal complaint about the discrimination and retaliatory banning, Cheatham discovered that she was blacklisted and never staffed on another rig for Schlumberger.
In November 2019, Schlumberger officials pressured Cheatham to move to Alaska and accept a job at a lower pay grade. Refusing to accept the proposed demotion, Cheatham left Schlumberger in January 2020.
She subsequently joined an existing gender bias suit filed against Schlumberger by Sara Saidman in April 2020, a female engineer who also alleged similar sexual harassment and discrimination as an employee on company-serviced oil rigs. The lawsuit by the two women wanted an award of damages in an amount not less than $100m. Cheatham is now the sole plaintiff in the case.
Schlumberger unsuccessfully attempted to dismiss Cheatham’s claims twice. In 2020, Judge Hoyt denied the company’s request and in February 2023, he ruled the matter should proceed to trial with the final decision left to a jury.
