A Florida car saleswoman says she was mocked, threatened, and ultimately fired after enduring racist harassment at work — including a coworker allegedly telling her she “smelled like the Middle East.”

Chrisanna Abad, 29, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in Orlando accusing her former employer, Gary Yeomans Honda of Daytona Beach, of allowing a toxic workplace where racial slurs and intimidation went unchecked.

According to the complaint, Abad — who identifies as Middle Eastern and Hispanic — began working at the dealership in April 2025 as a sales consultant.

Within weeks, she says, a coworker began targeting her with repeated racist remarks.

In one encounter described in the lawsuit, the coworker allegedly told Abad that she “smelled like the Middle East” and threatened to beat her up. A client relations manager who witnessed the exchange reportedly laughed and rolled her eyes rather than intervening.

When Abad reported the incident to the dealership’s general manager, she says her concerns were dismissed outright.

The manager allegedly told her to “stop [expletive], complaining and being childish,” according to the lawsuit.

The complaint claims the harassment did not stop — and may have escalated.

Abad says the same client relations manager later began referring to her simply as “the Arab” when they encountered each other at work.

In June 2025, Abad escalated her concerns to the company’s human resources department. But the meeting with HR and management allegedly resulted in the same message: ignore it.

The lawsuit claims the dealership’s general manager told Abad she should “let it go” if coworkers made anti–Middle Eastern remarks and focus on her job instead.

Meanwhile, Abad says the hostile workplace environment took a serious toll on her health.

She suffers from migraines, which the lawsuit says qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act because they interfere with major life activities, including her ability to work during periods of severe stress.

In late July 2025, Abad was hospitalized for three days following what the complaint describes as a debilitating migraine attack triggered or worsened by workplace stress.

When she returned from the hospital, she says she was fired for missing three days of work.

The lawsuit alleges the termination was retaliatory and discriminatory.

According to the complaint, hostility toward Abad continued even after she left the dealership.

Months later, in October 2025, a former coworker allegedly told Abad that a client relations manager said during a meeting that if Abad were ever hired at another Honda dealership, she would make sure Abad was fired.

The lawsuit names the dealership — part of the Gary Yeomans automotive network established in 1982 — as the defendant.

Abad is suing for race-based discrimination, national origin discrimination, violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act for failing to accommodate her migraine condition.

She says the ordeal left her suffering mental anguish, humiliation, and emotional distress, as well as lost income.

Abad is seeking back pay, front pay, punitive damages, and other compensation to be determined by a jury.