A well-known oral surgeon in NYC relentlessly sexually harassed his chauffeur while talking about his own small penis and asking the driver to turn around to look while he touched himself.
A Brooklyn Supreme Court suit filed last week claimed Christopher Jackson, 43, was hired to be Dr. Gabriel Hershman’s personal driver in April 2022. His job was to take him from his queens home to his Jewish studies, to get coffee, then to his 65th Street office in Brooklyn, and finally back home when his day ended.
But Jackson, who lives in Brooklyn, quit his job with Hershman and his father’s medical practice, The Hershman Group Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, on June 1, 2022, because of incessant sexual harassment.
“There is not a human being that is trying to work hard to earn a living that should have been subjected to that type of treatment and I think it’s absolutely horrible,” Jackson said.
Jackson worked Monday through Friday and was on-call from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. to drive Hershman around in his Cadillac Escalade, though the doctor wouldn’t let Jackson use the car for any personal reasons.
Jackson said, “The harassment started in mid-April. He began telling me about his small penis size and it became an obsessive topic over time. He would talk about it at least four times a week. He would always say he wished he could add a few inches to it.”
“The doctor would also tell me about how horrible his sex life was with his wife and he’d joke about my own sex life. One time we passed by a hotel and he joked by saying to me, ‘A fat n—-r named Shanequa would come to your room and sit on your face, you know you want that,” Jackson continued to recount Hershman’s harassing comments.
Hershman on multiple occasions asked Jackson to look at him while he rubbed his groin over his clothes while making moaning sounds and saying he was about to ejaculate. Jackson claims he refused to look and the doctor would try and make eye-contact with him in the rearview mirror.
“I would continuously ask him to stop talking ad acting that way with me, but he wouldn’t relent. That’s when I said enough was enough and I quit,” Jackson said. “He didn’t care. He has money and his father has money and he thinks that is something that’s going to save them from everything.”
Jackson said Hershman’s conduct is “even worse” considering he works in the medical profession and is an honorary NYPD surgeon.
Jackson said, “The doctor has everything, a wife, kids, a multi-million dollar home, and a thriving business. He walks around like he’s a model citizen in his religious community, in the business community and also in the New York City Police Department as well. I hope that he’s held accountable and I hope he doesn’t do this to someone else in the future.”
According to Jackson, when he decided to quit, he confronted Hershman with a recording he’d taken of the misconduct. The doctor “didn’t deny anything,” and instead he apologized and said he was joking and it was all locker room talk.
“Just because we are in the car, doesn’t mean we aren’t still in a working environment,” Jackson recalled saying to Hershman. “I’m not going to allow myself to be subjected to this any longer.”
The former driver is suing Hershman, his dad and the practice for unspecified damages over an alleged hostile work environment and for stiffing Jackson on overtime wages, despite his being on-call for roughly 70 hours a week.
Jackson’s lawyer Jon Bell said, “Sexual harassment can take many forms. It isn’t just a problem between men and women or just coming on to someone. Just talking in a very sexual way with one of your employee subordinates is a violation. Chris, rightfully so, felt very uncomfortable.”
“All Jackson is doing is trying to support himself and his family during these tough times and the arrogance of this physician to turn around and treat Chris like that, not only with the blatant statements, but to treat him unfairly with the amount of wages. It’s really an egregious case,” Bell added.
However, Jason Zoldessy, a lawyer for Hershman and the company, retorted, “Mr. Jackson is someone who admittedly has been dealing with mental health issues. When confronted with his termination, he fabricated this salacious narrative. Our clients intend to fight the claims aggressively.”
Bell replied to these accusations, “Hershman and his attorney’s statements are patently false. We find it incredulous that Dr. Hershman, instead of taking responsibility for his atrocious conduct is now trying to spin the narrative that Mr. Jackson was somehow terminated. We look forward to addressing this in court.”
