Press Room

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Predator suit raises questions

Must employer reveal records?

By ROMINA GARBER

The parents of a 10-year-old Hollywood girl are suing Publix Super Markets, alleging their daughter was sexually abused by a convicted sexual predator the grocery chain had hired, but whose criminal background it failed to divulge to other employees.

The suit, filed in Broward County Circuit Court on Thursday, will challenge accepted notions of personal privacy in the workplace. At issue is whether employers are compelled to tell their employees that a sexual predator works for the company.

In Florida and other states, law enforcement agencies inform neighborhoods when a sexual predator moves in, but in question is whether such laws extend to the workplace.

Russell S. Adler, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that although under Florida law an employer may not be required to inform employees that a sex offender is among them, once a manager learned that the employee was in a position to harm another the employer has a duty under the law to prevent a foreseeable crime.

Patrick Shannon, associate dean of the University of Florida Levin College of Law, said companies have been held liable after hiring someone who they knew or should have known had a likelihood for violent behavior.

However, Shannon, who teaches employment law, said he's not so sure in this case whether Publix is legally liable.

"It's a very sad situation. It has to be a horrifying experience for any parent to realize that this has occurred," Shannon said.' At minimum Publix had a moral duty to inform this lady, but unfortunately just because a person has a moral duty doesn't mean they have a legal duty."

According to the girl's parents, had they known that the man, Robert William Woolard, 54, of Pembroke Pines, was a convicted sexual offender they never would have asked him to baby-sit their daughter three years ago.

Woolard and the girl's mother, identified in the suit only as R.M., worked at a Publix at 6800 Taft St. in Hollywood. The mother worked in the business office.

Woolard was convicted 13 years ago of attempted sexual battery of a minor under 12, a third-degree felony, and placed on probation for 18 years. He's now in Broward County Jail in Pompano Beach.

According to the suit, in April 2000 the Department of Corrections notified Publix that Woolard was a convicted sex offender, but store manager David Moses kept that information to himself.

The suit claims that through his employment at Publix, Woolard befriended the girl's mother, and in August 2000 the woman made arrangements to leave her two young daughters at Woolard's house on a regular basis while their mother worked at the store during early-morning hours and after-school hours.

According to the suit, Moses repeatedly told the mother that she had to work those hours, forcing her to make child-care arrangements.

The child's mother told Moses that Woolard was caring for her daughters, but Moses said nothing about Woolard's criminal record as a child molester, the suit claims.

The sexual abuse of the young girl, who at the time was 7, reportedly happened between August and October 2000.

According to Adler, an employer can be held responsible for the crime an employee commits if he is in the position to stop it.

The girl's mother said Moses told a co-worker that officials at Publix corporate headquarters in Lakeland knew about Woolard's criminal background, and that Moses told the co-worker to stay out of it. But that co-worker later told the girl's mother.

Publix officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.

"We think that it's inappropriate to make comments on pending litigation," said Maria Rodamis, Publix' community affairs manager in Miami.

The girl's father, who is filing the suit on behalf of his daughter, said, ..Your first reaction is you want to kill him.but you can't. Having to go in the house that night and act like nothing had happened was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

Woolard was relocated to Orlando in April 2001, around the same time when customers began coming into Publix with pictures of Woolard, pointing out that he was a sex offender, the mother said.

Both parents stress that any sort of warning from manager Moses would have prevented the incident.

"I understand the privacy issue, but when it comes to kids' safety, there needs to be a line," the mother said.