Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Claiming Manager Sexually Abused Young Female Employees Filed By EEOC
On February 19, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a press release announcing that it has filed a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against New China, Inc. (New China). On February 19, 2020, the EEOC filed the case, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. New China, Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-00277, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon after initially attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its statutorily mandated conciliation process.
The EEOC has brought the sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) on behalf of young female employees of New China. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII. Title VII also protects employees from retaliation when they complain about perceived sexual harassment in the workplace. The EEOC claims that New China violated Title VII by allowing its managerial employee to sexually harass young female employees. The EEOC further claims that New China violated Title VII by firing one of the female employees for complaining about the sexual harassment she endured, and constructively discharged another female employee by failing to prevent the manager’s sexual harassment from continuing. In this article, our Marion County, Florida sexual harassment victims’ attorneys explain the EEOC’s allegations against New China.
EEOC Alleges Unlawful Sexual Harassment
New China is a restaurant located in Medford, Oregon. The EEOC alleges that a male manager, who is in his fifties, at New China repeatedly targeted young female employees for sexual abuse, including minors. The EEOC claims that the manager repeatedly subjected young female employees to unwanted physical conduct of a sexual nature, including hugging them, touching their crotch area, touching their breasts and buttocks, and rubbing his body against their bodies. The EEOC further alleges that the manager asked a minor female employee to text him nude pictures of herself. The manager’s alleged sexually harassing behavior towards young female employees also included sexual comments and sexual innuendos.
Despite repeated complaints, according to the EEOC, New China failed to take prompt and effective remedial action to prevent the manager’s sexually harassing behavior from continuing. In fact, the EEOC claims that the even after the manager was arrested at work for sexual abuse of the restaurant’s minor female employee, the manager was allowed to return to work. The EEOC claims that New China unlawfully fired one female employee after she complained about the manager’s sexually harassing behavior. The EEOC further claims that because New China failed to take appropriate corrective action to prevent the manager’s sexual conduct from recurring, New China made the working conditions of another young female employee “so intolerable that she felt forced to resign.”
Workplace Must Be Free Of Sexual Abuse
The EEOC is the administrative agency of the United States responsible for interpreting and enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. In enforcing the federal anti-discrimination rights laws, the EEOC is also authorized by federal law to bring lawsuits on behalf of employees who have been forced to work in a sexual hostile work environment and employees who have been retaliated against for complaining about sexual harassment in the workplace. In a press release issued by the EEOC on February 19, 2020 regarding the case, the Director for the EEOC’s Seattle District Office, Nancy Sienko, explained that these “young women ranged in age from 15 to 20 years old and were entering the workforce for the first time.” “No worker,” Ms. Sienko added, “should have to face what they did.” In commenting on the case, a Senior EEOC Trial Attorney, Teri Healey, stated that “employers need to know that they have a responsibility to ensure that workplaces are free from harassment.” Once employers have been put on notice that “there may be harassment” in the workplace, Ms. Healey added, they “must take prompt, appropriate, and effective action to investigate and stop any such misconduct.”
Ocala Sexual Harassment Victims’ Lawyers
Based in Ocala, Florida and representing employees throughout Central Florida, our Marion County Florida sexual harassment victims’ attorneys have been fighting for the rights of sexual harassment victims for more than two decades. If you have worked in a sexual hostile work environment or have questions about your right to be free from sexual misconduct in the workplace, please contact our office for a free consultation with our Ocala, Florida sexual harassment victims’ lawyers. Our sexual harassment victims’ attorneys take sexual harassment cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that there are no attorney’s fees incurred unless there is a recovery and our attorney’s fees come solely from the monetary award that you recover.