T-Mobile Defends 2 Former Executives Against Alleged Sales Misconduct

T-Mobile denies the allegations of Heidi Cramer, its former director-sales, that two former sales executives schemed to artificially inflate small and medium business orders, and that she was terminated for the actions of her male co-workers when the plan went awry because she's a woman (see 2210260038), said the carrier’s answer Tuesday (docket 2:22-cv-03800) in U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio in Columbus. Cramer alleges former T-Mobile Senior Vice President-Sales James Kirby and ex-Vice President-Sales Jason Grutzius orchestrated a “zero dollars plan” by deviating from the standard industry practice of selling devices to suit immediate customer need, and would instead sell customers all needed and forecasted devices immediately. The practice permitted T-Mobile to cast itself in a favorable light with investors when representing its current subscriber figures without requiring customers to pay for devices they didn't immediately need, she alleges. The plan backfired in 2021 when T-Mobile incurred a high volume of unexpected customer cancellations, she says. T-Mobile fired Cramer for the infractions, she alleges, but not Grutzius and Kirby, who were allowed to stay on, and ultimately left the company on their own in 2022. T-Mobile denies Grutzius and Kirby “engaged in terminable or improper conduct,” said its answer Tuesday. Cramer’s sex-discrimination claims are barred “by the applicable statute of limitations,” it said. Cramer’s “alleged injuries and harms” were caused by her own actions, it said. T-Mobile’s actions toward Cramer “were based on legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons,” it said.