ON BACKGROUND
Wigdor has filed a gender discrimination and retaliation complaint against AOW Construction and its leadership team of Richard Oliver, James Urner, and Craig Kennedy, on behalf of Nicole Armsby. As alleged in the complaint, Ms. Armsby spent 14 years at AOW Construction, during which time her contributions had a direct impact in bringing the company’s annual revenue from $25 million to $80 million – a particular feat, given she was a woman in the male-dominated construction field. However, her contributions were minimized as she was relegated to discriminatory equity allocations and subjected to a hostile work environment.
As detailed in the complaint below, Ms. Armsby was often charged with menial and stereotypically female responsibilities that fell outside her scope as CFO, like planning parties or cleaning up after company functions. When she challenged the directive, she was told by Mr. Oliver “The girls in the office always take care of these things . . . This is how it has been, why do we need to change things?” Ms. Armsby was also excluded from vital business text chains about large project bid results, was denied a vehicle allowance that was offered to other Partners, and was not invited to major company events like groundbreaking ceremonies. Furthermore, it was later revealed that, though she was promised the opportunity to purchase additional shares from Mr. Oliver as he approached retirement, such assurances were fraudulent, as Mr. Oliver always intended to keep the shares for his grandchild.
Ms. Armsby repeatedly shared her concerns with fellow Partners Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Urner, but they both refused to take her seriously. Their failure to take any action was a breach of their fiduciary obligation to act in the best interest of the Company. In April 2025, a routine executive meeting was held, and Mr. Oliver was immediately abusive and targeted Ms. Armsby for no legitimate reason. In a subsequent meeting with the Company’s HR Manager, Ms. Armsby expressed that she would no longer tolerate the hostile and abusive environment. Rather than assisting in a resolution, Ms. Armsby was terminated and kicked out of the partnership two months later without cause, just before she was set to start profiting from her purchased shares.
The full complaint for Nicole Armsby v. AOW Ventures LLC; AOW Construction LLC; AOW Associates, INC.; Richard Oliver; James Urner; and Craig Kennedy may be found here.
Please reach out to Wigdor LLP Partner Michael Willemin (mwillemin@wigdorlaw.com) or Director of Marketing Tess Neudeck (tneudeck@wigdorlaw.com) with any questions.