--- title: Kay Jewelers and Jared Parent Sterling Faces Sex Claims description: Female employees say they were routinely groped and pressured to perform sexual favors for their superiors canonical: https://time.com/4685361/kay-sexual-harrassment-sterling-jewelers/ author: Lucinda Shen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-28T15:57:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-14T22:55:16.000Z og:title: Hundreds Are Alleging a 'Sex-Fest' at Kay Jewelers and Jared og:description: Female employees say they were routinely groped and pressured to perform sexual favors og:url: https://time.com/4685361/kay-sexual-harrassment-sterling-jewelers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee6862d1c19f0203/6988bc52bc6cfc87a13e0549/kay-jewelers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Signet Jewelers Purchases Zale Corporation og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hundreds Are Alleging a 'Sex-Fest' at Kay Jewelers and Jared twitter:description: Female employees say they were routinely groped and pressured to perform sexual favors twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee6862d1c19f0203/6988bc52bc6cfc87a13e0549/kay-jewelers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hundreds Are Alleging a 'Sex-Fest' at Kay Jewelers and Jared by [Lucinda Shen](https://time.com/author/lucinda-shen/) ## Lucinda Shen Updated: Dec 14, 2023 10:55 PM UTCPublished: Feb 28, 2017 3:57 PM UTC  A Kay Jewelers store, on Feb. 19, 2014 in Daly City, Calif. A Kay Jewelers store, on Feb. 19, 2014 in Daly City, Calif.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Lucinda Shen](https://time.com/author/lucinda-shen/) ## Lucinda Shen Updated: Dec 14, 2023 10:55 PM UTCPublished: Feb 28, 2017 3:57 PM UTC The slogan “every kiss begins with Kay” might be souring right about now. Hundreds of current and former female employees at the parent company of Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, Sterling Jewelers, have filed a private class-action arbitration case against the company, alleging that the middle-of-the-road jewelry giant’s CEO and top executives “fostered rampant sexual harassment and discrimination,” according to documents seen by [The Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/hundreds-allege-sex-harassment-discrimination-at-kay-and-jared-jewelry-company/2017/02/27/8dcc9574-f6b7-11e6-bf01-d47f8cf9b643%5Fstory.html?c=DBuCIwpq&utm%5Fterm=.258aa5d5d68a). The lawsuit includes declarations from roughly 250 men and women who once worked at the company, and represents some 69,000 women who are former and current employees at Sterling. The case alleges that between the late 1990s and 2000s, female employees at Sterling Jewelers were routinely groped, and pressured to perform sexual favors for their superiors. One declaration in the lawsuit describes annual meetings as a a “sex-fest.” The employees were told the favors would advance their career or protect them from punishment, the lawsuit alleges. Some of the 69,000 are not alleging sexual impropriety, but say women at Sterling are regularly paid less than men in the same position. A Sterling spokesman told The _Post_ that company officials “have thoroughly investigated the allegations and have concluded they are not substantiated by the facts and certainly do not reflect our culture.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4685361/kay-sexual-harrassment-sterling-jewelers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4685361/kay-sexual-harrassment-sterling-jewelers/"},"headline":"Hundreds Are Alleging a 'Sex-Fest' at Kay Jewelers and Jared","datePublished":"2017-02-28T15:57:27.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-14T22:55:16.000Z","description":"Female employees say they were routinely groped and pressured to perform sexual favors for their superiors","url":"https://time.com/4685361/kay-sexual-harrassment-sterling-jewelers/","keywords":["motto","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee6862d1c19f0203/6988bc52bc6cfc87a13e0549/kay-jewelers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lucinda Shen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lucinda-shen/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee6862d1c19f0203/6988bc52bc6cfc87a13e0549/kay-jewelers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Signet Jewelers Purchases Zale Corporation","caption":"A Kay Jewelers store, on Feb. 19, 2014 in Daly City, Calif.","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4685361/kay-sexual-harrassment-sterling-jewelers/","name":"Hundreds Are Alleging a 'Sex-Fest' at Kay Jewelers and Jared"}}]}] ```