The documents were filed early Monday morning with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by two of the monthly's highest-ranking former female executives.

Also named in the documents is CEO David Mays, who co-owns The Source with Scott.

The documents accuse both men of committing gender discrimination, sexual harassment and unlawful retaliation against women. The action was filed on behalf of all current and former female employees of the magazine by former editor in chief Kimberly Osorio and former Vice President of Marketing Michelle Joyce.

The charges follow Friday's announcement that Scott had resigned (see "Citing Eminem Feud And Other Reasons, Benzino Quits Source"). In a statement, Scott explained that he was tired of the legal wrangling with his nemesis, rapper Eminem, and felt the magazine had gotten too rigid for his liking.

"Everyone is too politically correct," he said. "I plan on creating another magazine that has my voice which represents the little guy. It's because of the manipulation of SoundScan and radio that hip-hop is losing its edge."

Monday afternoon, however, Benzino reconsidered his resignation, announcing that he would not be stepping down after all. According to a press release on the reversal, Benzino will continue to work "to make The Source bigger and better."

According to the charges, female employees were constantly discriminated against on the basis of their gender, in favor of male employees — not only with respect to hiring and promotions, but compensation, benefits, working hours and discipline.

Rather than hire or promote women, the documents claim that Benzino, who is originally from Boston, appointed members of his hometown clique to positions for which they weren't qualified, and that they rarely showed up for work. When these male employees made mistakes or failed to do their jobs, the filing says Mays and Scott would blame those shortcomings on their female supervisors and co-workers.

In addition, the charges further claim that Scott and Mays yelled at, belittled and verbally abused female workers, and even fired or forced out many competent and capable female employees (Joyce was let go in January, and Osorio was replaced in March) for minor work-related indiscretions. It also claims that they consistently subjected female employees — from interns to the top brass — to degrading acts of sexual harassment.

The alleged abuse was so widespread that many female employees hid in their offices to avoid being sexually harassed, according to court papers.

"After dedicating five years to The Source, I could no longer endure the blatant gender discrimination and harassment, so I spoke up," said Osorio — who holds a degree from New York Law School — in a prepared statement. "But it only hurt the situation because I was fired shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, discrimination and harassment in the workplace is very common, and now I must speak out for all women who have been victims of this same type of treatment."

"I chose to take a stand for women of the hip-hop generation and for all women who quietly endure such treatment for fear of retaliation and for those women who have suffered in silence and quietly surrendered," added Joyce.