Philadelphia Region Local News

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― You think of bullying in a schoolyard. But what about at work?

A Delaware woman says she has been the victim of tormenting at work. The taunt? That she really is a man. Now she has filed complaints with the city and state, saying it was illegal. Dave Huddleston has the story.

Carol Castillo says she's been living a nightmare.

"This happened in a work environment," Carol said. "I feel like I have to hide for something I haven't done."

Carol says what was done to her is beyond cruel. She says she's the victim of a horrible rumor on her job. The rumor? That Carol is actually a man.

"It was very humiliating," Carol said.

Carol was a Philadelphia-based flight attendant for USA 3000. Among the comments Carol said she heard: A first officer said she looked like a man. Another flight attendant said there was a penis sticking out of Carol's skirt. A pilot said Carol was "growing a beard."

She says the rumor spread among other flight attendants, pilots, even to passengers.

Carol said she heard people "call me 'freak,' call me 'sir.'"

Why would her co-workers make up such a story? Carol says she was a lead flight attendant and did things by the book; the others resented her authority.

Carol says it got so bad, her life was threatened by another airport worker on a bus late at night.

"He sat behind me and he said, 'Don't even look at me' -- he said very bad words -- 'or I'm gonna beat you up.' And I was petrified. I was so scared to get off the bus, thinking he could get on the same stop and maybe he could hurt me," she said.

Carol says she tried to get help from management, but she never got any.

"It got to the point where I was affected at all levels," Carol said. "I couldn't sleep. Every time I went to work, I felt like I was going to hell."

"Her life is never going to be the same because of this," said Timothy Kolman, Carol's attorney. "It's just never going to be the same."

To prove Carol is a woman, her attorney showed CBS 3's Dave Huddleston her medical records.

Kolman says, Carol is the victim of a phenomenon called workplace mobbing.

Dr. Nicole Lipkin is a psychologist who has treated people who have been bullied in the workplace.

"Workplace mobbing is when a group of people gang up on one individual, on one person in an organization, and either through the use of intimidation or humiliation, degradation, really are trying to force that person out," said Lipkin.

Carol says the harassment went on for three years, until she finally broke. She went on leave from her job in March.

Carol filed a complaint with Philadelphia's Commission on Human Relations, which confirms it's investigating .

Meantime, Carol says she's undergoing treatment to deal with the psychological scars of workplace harassment.

"Nobody deserves to be humiliated in the way that I have been. That's why I decided to seek for help and tell my story," Carol said.

Carol's complaint named 25 people. We contacted many of the people named in her complaint. Most had no comment or did not respond.

One former USA 3000 employee named in the complaint told us he never heard any rumor, never harassed her and never heard anyone else do it either.

We asked USA 3000 for comment. The CEO told CBS 3 he would not comment because it is an open case.

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