A locations assistant on “Hawaii Five-0” sued CBS, alleging an employee harassed her repeatedly for over a year by pursuing unwanted sexual contact and threatening to light her and her desk on fire, among other things.
Kelly Tolar claims that the bad behavior from locations scout Jake Downer on the set of the hit CBS procedural began in September 2014 and lasted until December 2015, according to documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
In the documents, Tolar says she emailed a memo to several managers in 2015 informing them of Downer’s misconduct in 2015.
“This week he blew up at me, telling me that I am a ‘stupid f — king idiot,’ ‘retard’ and ‘dumb a —,’” Tolar claims she wrote in the memo, adding that Downer also told her daily that she should kill herself.
Tolar says her supervisor didn’t address Downer’s behavior until November 2015, and even when he was asked to knock it off, he was never officially reprimanded or sanctioned.
Throughout the year-long-plus headache, Tolar also alleges that Downer threatened to light her and her desk on fire, told her he hid outside her home and took photos of her, pulled her hair and grabbed her neck, threatened to poison the office water, pursued unwanted sexual contact and shared graphic details of a sexual encounter he had with another employee.
Tolar also names Downer’s father, executive producer Jeffrey Downer, in the lawsuit, claiming he had authority over his son and “did not follow company procedure” when it came to investigating Jake’s behavior, and was “retaliating against her” by siding with his son.
She also says Jake often dismissed her complaints with comments like, “I’ll just tell my dad.”
In the lawsuit, Tolar also claims she had a sexual relationship with a manager from a different department who harassed her when she attempted to cut ties. She says the manager continued to contact her, and that she also believes he shared nude photos of Tolar with colleagues.
Tolar is suing CBS, Eye Productions, Entertainment Partners, Jeffrey Downer and Jake Downer. The lawsuit was filed in Hawaii state court, but was mandated to federal court Monday.
The suit comes after the series was embroiled in controversy over the summer when stars Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park quit the show over reports of unequal pay.
CBS did not immediately respond to a Daily News request for comment.
