• 01
  • June
    2011

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects the personal dignity of employees from sexual harassment. Employers are also prohibited from retaliating against employees for complaining about harassment in the workplace.

Unfortunately, more than one-third of all cases filed with the EEOC involve complaints of retaliation in the workplace. In fact, charges of retaliation against employees who have complained of harassment in the workplace were the type of complaint most frequently filed in 2010.

A major California producer of gourmet food products, Monterey Gourmet Foods, has been the subject of a lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The lawsuit alleged that three women employees and one 80-year-old male employee suffered sexual harassment by their male supervisor.

The four Latino employees were employed as packers in the lasagna, tamale and ravioli divisions of the Salinas, California, company. The allegations stem from conduct by the supervisor beginning in 2006, which included inappropriate sexual comments, "sexting" and unwanted physical touching.

The employees did report their sexual harassment complaints to management, but to no avail. As a result, two of the employees filed discrimination complaints with the California EEOC. Unfortunately, two weeks after the complaints were filed, all four employees were fired or laid off in retaliation for their efforts to stop the sexual harassment.

According to an EEOC press release, Monterey Gourmet Foods has recently settled the lawsuit. Under the terms of the settlement, the company is required to:

  • Pay $535,000 to the four workers for the sexual harassment and retaliation
  • Strengthen its policy against harassment in the workplace
  • Train supervisors and employees in the prevention of harassment
  • Report all future harassment and retaliation complaints to the EEOC

This result hopefully will encourage California employers to respond appropriately to complaints about harassment in their workplace, without resorting to retaliatory conduct in an effort to "solve" harassing conduct. This is an important victory for employees of Monterey Gourmet Foods and should help all employees feel more confident about raising harassment concerns in the future.

Source: EEOC Press Release, "Monterey Gourmet Foods Settles EEOC Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Lawsuit," 25 May 2011