A previous staffer has initiated a lawsuit against Family First Life and its holding company Integrity Marketing Group, accusing them of sexual misconduct, creating a toxic work environment, and engaging in unlawful retaliatory behavior.
Within the lawsuit filed on January 18th in New Jersey, Tiffany Tranghese is described as “a fetching female in the springtime of her 30s”.
Tranghese (right) alleges her tenure at Family First Life began in May 2023 as the Director of Recruitment.
Tranghese operated primarily from a remote setting, with the exception of making occasional visits to Family First’s premises in East Hanover, New Jersey, roughly twice a month.
Tranghese asserts that during her initial week with the company, while at a training event for Family First Life, she was “instructed to leverage her private Instagram account for the purpose of hiring.”
Unwilling to allow unknown individuals to glimpse into her private life and details regarding her young child, she opted to establish an alternative personal Instagram profile for conducting her work.
The actual incidents Tranghese encountered at Family First Life are difficult to classify, so I will simply reproduce them as they are depicted in her legal filing.
Family First Life “Criticized” Tranghese for Being Unmarried
During a sales gathering in June 2023, an agent inquired about her marital status, to which Tranghese candidly admitted she was single. Shockingly, her supervisor Marc Meade later chastised her, indicating that the query could have caused discomfort for the married agent.
The company completely disregarded Tranghese’s own unease and failed to recognize that the agent had broached her marital status initially.
Religious Messaging Pushed onto Tranghese’s Personal Online Profiles by Family First Life
Throughout her period of employment, Mr. Meade would disseminate spiritual messages on his own social media accounts and tag Tranghese’s Instagram page, thereby making it appear as though she shared similar religious stands on her personal feed, which greatly troubled her. Consequently, Tranghese felt compelled to block her manager on the platform.
Recruitment Efforts on Behalf of Family First Life Led to “Undesirable Sexual Communications”
When Tranghese resorted to using the secondary personal Instagram account for recruiting, contacting individuals she didn’t know personally, including males, this provoked a series of sexually suggestive messages that she did not solicit and which caused her significant discomfort, leading her to ultimately delete the account.
Family First Disregarded Tranghese’s Complaints or Overlooked Her Formal Notifications
After she communicated the instances of sexual misconduct to the Defendants, Tranghese requested the use of official business social platforms, like LinkedIn Recruiter, to clearly delineate her role as a recruiter. Nonetheless, the Defendants continued to assert she should utilize her private Instagram profile.
No further measures were undertaken to rectify Tranghese’s harassment grievances.
Tranghese persisted in her stance against tolerating sexual misconduct, arguing that she should be able to conduct her recruitment duties on social media through a corporate account – a suggestion she saw as reasonable and likely to mitigate or significantly decrease the objectionable messages she was subjected to.
In September 2023, Family First Life is alleged to have altered Tranghese’s contractual terms, stipulating a six-day per month physical presence at their office.
Tranghese complied with the contractual modification “due to the inability to forgo the income from her job,” as alleged in the lawsuit.
On September 13, 2023, Tranghese was summoned to a meeting with Mr. Meade and Catherine Padia [sic], the HR Business Partner. Ms. Padia treated Tranghese with flagrant disrespect and a combative attitude throughout the conversation.
Despite Tranghese’s prior compliance with the office attendance requirement, which she affirmed repeatedly during the exchange, Ms. Padia continuously demanded that Tranghese come to the office six times per month.
Furthermore, Ms. Padia reinforced the mandate for Tranghese to use her own social medial channels for recruitment activities.
When Tranghese reiterated her request to employ business-centric social profiles to avoid sexual harassment, Ms. Padia dismissively stated that the company could not safeguard against such misconduct, that the use of Tranghese’s personal account was an essential job duty, and that no modifications to this policy would be considered.
Following this, Ms. Padia proceeded to dismiss Tranghese from her position.
Tranghese maintains that her termination by Family First Life was “illicit”.
The defendant’s illegitimate acts have led Tranghese to suffer, including but not limited to, monetarily, loss of future earning prospects, and emotional distress exemplified by headaches, stomach aches, and insomnia.
Given the Defendants’ grievous neglect and inattention, punitive damages, in addition to other available reparations, are warranted in Tranghese’s view.
In her lawsuit, Tranghese cites sexual harassment, a hostile working atmosphere, and retaliatory conduct, with all accusations raised under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.
Tranghese’s demands for restitution include back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, accrued interest pre- and post-judgment, and the offsetting of legal expenses.
On March 18th, Family First Life submitted its formal response to Trenghese’s allegations.
A preliminary discussion was held on May 9th, with a subsequent telephonic consultation scheduled for October 8th.