Ex-employee sues OnderLaw, claims assault, online campaign for Ferguson data center

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) -An ex-employee of OnderLaw is suing the law firm, claiming harassment and an online campaign to sway public perception of a proposed data center in Ferguson.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, was filed by an ex-employee referred to in court documents as Jane Doe.

The lawsuit names the defendants as OnderLaw and James ‘Jim’ Onder.

Onder’s lawyer told First Alert 4 he is declining to comment for the story. First Alert 4 has also reached out to OnderLaw for comment. As of publication time, we have not heard back.

Court records show Onder’s lawyer had filed to have the case sealed by the court. In a Friday ruling, Judge Heather Cunningham denied the request.

The 30-page lawsuit alleges a series of sexually inappropriate actions taken by Onder against Doe, along with allegations he pressured her to participate in a campaign against Ferguson and its city council regarding a vote against his proposed data center.

The lawsuit alleges OnderLaw discriminated against Doe after she exercised her workers’ compensation rights and that the company violated Missouri’s whistleblower protection act. Against Onder himself, Doe alleges assault and battery

The Ferguson Project

On May 4, Ferguson’s City Council rejected tax breaks for Onder’s proposed data center at the former Emerson campus. The project would have received $1.5 billion in tax breaks over the 15 years of the agreement.

After the rejection by the City Council, Doe claims that Onder ordered her to create a negative campaign about the city and residents.

Onder told Doe the campaign would be pushed through Meta to residents in Ferguson; the content would appear as real news stories and paint the city as overrun with crime, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit says that Onder told Doe this would get him back to the approval process through a loophole and his relationships with officials and leaders at the Port Authority.

Days after the rejection, on May 7, Doe was in a closed-door meeting with Onder, a St. Louis County official and a crisis public relations consultant. In this meeting, Doe alleged Onder again detailed his campaign plan.

During the meeting, Onder said he wanted to instill fear about safety in Ferguson with exaggerated stories, making the data center “the only way out for these people,” documents state. While planning the campaign, Doe claims that Onder mocked Black people. Doe said during one meeting, while discussing what graphics to use during a Ferguson town hall, Onder said: “They [Black people] can’t read, so it doesn’t matter.”

Doe says after the May 7 meeting she told Onder and Lisa Frederick, who served as the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and President for OnderLaw, she would not work on the Ferguson project.

Doe says that Onder persisted and told OnderLaw Director of Special Projects, Don Bertelsmann, to use bots to manufacture comments about Ferguson on social media that would look like they were coming from ordinary people. Doe alleges Onder instructed Bertelsmann to use computers in his home lab to do the botting.

Months earlier, in January 2026, Doe alleges she was given a 2025 expense folder by Bertelsmann, showing a charge on his personal credit card for two “labs”; one at his house and another at his father-in-law’s house, according to the lawsuit. Bertelsmann wanted a reimbursement of $8,000 for equipment, software and internet service, the lawsuit states.

At the time, Doe alleges that Bertelsmann wouldn’t tell her what the labs were for. Months later, Onder directed Bertelsmann to use his home lab and the computers in it to run bots for the Ferguson campaign.

Allegations of violating Missouri lobbying law

The lawsuit states that Onder’s goal was to influence Ferguson’s City Council’s decision on the data center’s tax breaks by pushing down real residents with fake accounts.

The lawsuit states that Onder’s campaign efforts violated Missouri’s Lobbying Law, which requires every lobbyist to register with the Missouri Ethics Commission and prohibits hiring a person not registered as a lobbyist by the state.

According to the lawsuit, Onder knew that Bertelsmann was not a registered lobbyist but still hired him. Doe claims she refused to be part of the campaign, as well as her team. She says she reported the campaign to Faith Earley, who was the firm’s new COO. The reports were done in mid-May; Doe says she reported her concerns multiple times after.

The suit shows a text message exchange between Onder and Doe, in which Onder says, “So I shouldn’t announce to the World the illegal bribes each one requested to buy their votes?” in reference to the Ferguson City Council.

Doe alleges repeated instances of sexually inappropriate behavior

Doe claims in the lawsuit that Onder began acting sexually inappropriately toward her shortly after she joined his law firm in early 2025. The first incident happened, she claims, on April 2 of that year. She says Onder had touched her leg and waist after sitting next to her at a business meeting at a local steakhouse. She alleges in the suit she tried to move away from Onder, but couldn’t escape his reach and he continued the contact.

A month later, on May 3, she alleges Onder began grabbing at her waist during an afternoon work party at an area hotel. She says Onder kept advancing on her until she was backed up against a wall. The suit alleges Onder had been pulling her so close that “he looked ready to kiss her.” Doe alleges she only got away after another party guest entered the room.

The next month, between June 4 and 6, Doe claims she was on a work trip for OnderLaw. During the trip, she says Onder inappropriately touched her during a conference dinner. She claims Onder again inappropriately touched her leg again on the car ride back to their hotel. Doe alleges Onder asked her to go to the bar with him, which she refused.

The lawsuit claims that after this rejection, Onder became cold to Doe, would belittle her during meetings and called her “stupid” in front of her team.

Later that month on June 30, Doe says she was in a meeting where she was the only woman present. The meeting was to discuss the price of the website developer for the law firm’s sexual abuse division. Doe said that Onder had approved the developer’s price, which he denied. He then made a “handjob” gesture at Doe, court documents state.

Doe claims that she had reported these instances to Frederick. Frederick acted as the firm’s human resources officer at the time, the lawsuit states.

Doe says she had also learned of another woman who had been inappropriately grabbed by Onder during a business trip.

After Doe reported Onder to Frederick, she alleges Frederick said she had “[s]een it many times with Jim and women, including those who work here. He does it to see how far he can get.”

Frederick allegedly told Doe of other instances of Onder making sexually inappropriate contact with women employees of the law firm.

Doe claims in the lawsuit that Onder began treating her worse after she made her report with Frederick. Doe says in the lawsuit she believes Frederick had told Onder about the report.

‘Prepare to be terminated’: Doe gets fired from OnderLaw

Doe states that she became physically ill due to stress and anxiety from her job, detailing two instances in May in which she went to urgent care. She claims her health continued worsening during the summer of 2026.

On June 17, Doe says Onder created a group chat with her, her team and Earley, complaining about a lack of social media promotion for the firm’s sexual abuse division. Later, Earley told Doe the message was directed at her, according to the lawsuit. Later that evening, Earley told Doe to “prepare to be terminated and I’m telling you so you’re not blindsided,” court records state.

Doe states that, starting in late July, she began to be excluded from important communications and meetings. When she reported this, nothing changed.

In mid-August, Doe says she contacted the firm’s new human resources director to request a leave to recover from work pressure that was affecting her mentally and physically. She says she filled out the first form; later that day, her Teams account and email stopped working. On Aug. 18, Doe says she received a termination letter stating her last day would be Aug. 31.

Doe claims that OnderLaw discriminated against her when she used her workers’ compensation rights to ask for a medical leave due to work-related stress and anxiety that had physical effects. She says that OnderLaw discriminated against her for this and, as a result, fired her.

In the lawsuit, Doe also alleges that OnderLaw violated Missouri’s whistleblower protection act when she refused to participate in the Ferguson campaign and reported these actions to members of the law firm. She says that the firm retaliated against her by removing her from meetings and lines of communication and ultimately firing her.

Doe has requested a jury trial. No hearings are currently scheduled in the case.