New York Paralegal Blog

MEMPHIS - A Cerritos, Calif.-based plastic bag manufacturer will pay $150,000 in monetary damages to resolve a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

URBANA, Ill. – A federal judge has ruled that Cognis Corporation, a German-based part of multinational chemical company BASF, unlawfully retaliated against an employee for refusing to waive his rights to file a discrimination charge, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today.

PHOENIX – A Fountain Hills, Ariz.- based golf course and restaurant has agreed to settle an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that charged the company with retaliation in violation of federal law, the agency announced today.

DALLAS – New Mexico-based Allsup’s Convenience Stores, Inc., which operates over 300 stores in Texas and New Mexico, will pay a former employee $37,000 and furnish other relief to settle a retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

ATLANTA – In an employment discrimination lawsuit it recently filed, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged that Cadillac Jack, Inc., a supplier of innovative games and systems to the global gaming industry in Duluth, Ga., violated federal law when it fired a manager in retaliation for complaining about race and gender discrimination.

What does this say about the leadership of a company when an alleged pervert like Mike Cordova is permitted to behave like a decadent Roman emperor at a place where people come to earn an honest living?

SAN FRANCISCO — Local car dealership Fremont Toyota violated federal law when its management harassed Afghani-American employees due to their national origin, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

INDIANAPOLIS – Trinity Health Corporation violated federal law by retaliating against employees who file or refuse to drop discrimination charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency charged in a lawsuit it filed today. Trinity Health is a national Catholic health care system which is the parent of St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, a North Central Indiana health care system.

The reality is they will not stop their discriminatory behavior. In fact, they will probably turn it up a notch or two! Be it sexual harassment, racial discrimination or gender discrimination. Complaining about it to the perpetrator will not help and complaining about it to management will only make it worse. According to the EEOC's 2010 charge statistics report, retaliation is the most common charge filed with the federal agency.

BALTIMORE – A construction company that provides services to the U.S. Army at its Aberdeen, Md., location will pay $230,000 and furnish other substantial relief to settle an EEOC gender-based abuse and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

WASHINGTON – Federal employees and applicants filed 17,583 complaints of employment discrimination during fiscal year 2010, a 3.75 percent increase over the previous year, according to the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Annual Report on the Federal Work Force Part I: EEO Complaints Processing for Fiscal Year 2010. The report, issued today, assesses federal agencies’ equal employment opportunity complaints program statistics. The full text of the report is available on the agency’s web site at http://www.eeoc.gov/federal/reports/fsp2010/index.cfm . As with private sector charges of discrimination, retaliation was the most common allegation of discrimination, and registered a 2.7 percent increase over the prior fiscal year. Age and race (African-American) discrimination were the next most frequently alleged bases and each registered 5.1 percent increases. Federal employees and applicants are also protected against employment discrimination on the bases of co...

SAN FRANCISCO — A major pharmacy chain has agreed to pay $55,000 and to implement preventive training to settle a federal lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging race and gender discrimination and retaliation, the agency announced today. The EEOC had sued on behalf of an African-American female buyer who had been employed at Longs Drugs, which was later bought by CVS Caremark. The EEOC’s suit asserted that Marcia Guaman was treated by Longs Drugs very differently from colleagues who were not black or female. For example, Guaman received verbal and written warnings for her performance numbers, while white female co-workers with lower scores did not face any disciplinary action. Also, Guaman’s requests for vacation days were denied, even though she asked prior to white co-workers who were granted vacation for the same dates, according to the EEOC. She was discharged from her position a few months after she raised the differential treatment ...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Delta Family Health and Fitness for Children, a psychiatric resident treatment center in Hamburg, Ark., will pay $87,500 to settle a lawsuit for retaliation brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC’s suit (Civil Action No. 9-1058) alleged that Delta violated federal anti-discrimination law when it fired an employee who complained about sexual harassment, an identified witness to the discrimination, and two other employees who had filed charges with the EEOC. One employee complained about sexual harassment on Jan. 4, 2008, and named a co-worker as a witness to the harassment. Both employees were terminated on Jan. 7, 2008. Two other employees filed charges of discrimination with the agency. Both of these employees were terminated on Oct. 24, 2008. Retaliation for complaining about discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Dis...

HOUSTON – Dillard’s, a major department store chain, violated federal law by firing a business manager as retaliation for filing a discrimination charge, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today. According to the EEOC’s suit, Shontel Mayfield worked at the Dillard’s store in the Central Mall in Port Arthur, Texas. In September 2008, Mayfield complied with a Jefferson County mandatory evacuation order and evacuated the area in advance of Hurricane Ike. Mayfield returned to Jefferson County consistent with the directives of the county’s “disaster declarations.” After Mayfield returned to work on Sept. 24, she was called into the store manager’s office the next day and advised by the store manager and the assistant store manager / operations manager that she was being fired for the stated reason of “excessive absenteeism.” On her termination paperwork, Mayfield was accused of having “failed to maintain verbal communication concerning ...

PORTLAND , Ore. – Willamette Tree Wholesale, Inc. has agreed to pay $150,000 to four Latino farmworkers to resolve a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, two sisters who worked at Willamette Tree’s Molalla, Ore., farm faced extreme sexual harassment. One was taken to remote areas of the farm by a supervisor, coerced with pruning shears, threatened with termination and bodily harm and sexually assaulted repeatedly over several months. When informed by a coworker of the situation, Willamette Tree failed to investigate or respond. Ultimately, the woman was fired when she refused her supervisor’s demands, according to the EEOC. The other sister faced graphic sexual comments, propositions and groping by the same supervisor as well as a crew leader. The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that instead of taking appropriate action when she and her husband reported the h...

NORFOLK , Va. – A Norfolk marine contractor violated federal law by subjecting six female employees to a sexually hostile work environment and then firing five of them for complaining, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, six female employees of Stanley’s Marine & Industrial Services LLC – Darlene Snead, Eva Winston, Cameron Gladden, Angela Ford, Elizabeth Taylor, and Krystal Adams – who worked primarily as insulators aboard the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush, were subjected to sexual harassment by two male supervisors. The suit alleges that the sexual harassment occurred between November 2007 and March 2009 and included graphic sexual comments, sexual advances and sexual touching. Six of the women who complained to Stanley’s Marine management about the harassment were discharged in retaliation for their complaints, the EEOC said. The discharges occurred between March 2008 and March 2009.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Southeastern Telecom Inc. will pay $95,000 and provide other relief to settle a lawsuit for unlawful retaliation filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC’s suit had charged that Southeastern Telecom violated federal law when it discharged a sales account executive within one week of her complaint of sex discrimination, including unequal pay. The EEOC’s complaint specifically alleged that Southeastern Telecom disabled the account executive’s work computer, removed her e-mail access, restricted her access to the work site, and finally fired her in retaliation for her complaint of sex discrimination.

Hostile Warnings of Discipline and Termination After Complaint of Sex Discrimination Are Enough for Case to Go Forward, Judge Says MILWAUKEE – Automobile giant Chrysler Group, LLC’s effort to have an U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claim of unlawful retaliation thrown out of court has failed, the agency announced today. The EEOC has received a February 17, 2011 Decision and Order from District Judge William F. Callahan, Jr., denying Chrysler’s motion for summary judgment. The judge held that the EEOC’s claims of retaliation on behalf of two women employed in the company’s national parts distribution center in Milwaukee should go forward. (EEOC v. Chrysler Group, LLC, E.D.Wis. No. 08-C-1067, Decision & Order, 2/17/2011, D.J. Callahan.) The claims were brought by the EEOC under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in a lawsuit filed in December 2009. According to the EEOC, one of the women was taken off what the court described as a “coveted position” dri...

Retaliation Surpasses Race as Most Frequent Allegation; Agency Obtains $404 Million for Victims The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that private sector workplace discrimination charge filings with the federal agency nationwide hit an unprecedented level of 99,922 during fiscal year (FY) 2010, which ended Sept. 30, 2010. Despite the increase in overall charges filed with the EEOC last fiscal year, the Commission dramatically slowed the growth of the charge inventory. As a result, the federal agency ended FY 2010 with 86,338 pending charges - an increase of only 570 charges, or less than one percent. Between fiscal years 2008 and 2009, the EEOC's pending inventory increased 15.9 percent.

School Bus Drivers Touched and Taunted by Supervisor, Then Forced Out Upon Complaining, Federal Agency Charged LOS ANGELES — School bus operator First Student, Inc. will pay $150,000 and provide other relief to settle a lawsuit for sexual harassment and retaliation filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today. The EEOC had charged that four female employees at the company were sexually harassed, retaliated against or forced to quit. Ohio-based First Student claims to be North America’s leading school bus transportation services company.