The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including sex discrimination and sexual harassment which violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  In an EEOC October 29, 2009 Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/press/10-29-09.html , agency lawyers announced that an automobile dealership will pay $455,000.00 and provide substantial remedial relief to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the EEOC.  According to the Press Release, EEOC lawyers charged in the case that five female employees of the company were subjected to unwelcome sexual comments and conduct, including repeated requests for sexual favors and sexually explicit language in the workplace.  The EEOC contends that multiple salesmen and sales managers took part in the harassment over a period of several years.  As stated in the Press Release, the EEOC also maintains that the company retaliated against one of the women by firing her because she complained about the unlawful comments and conduct.  An EEOC lawyer quoted in the Press Release stated, in part, that “Many of the women involved in this suit were in their teens or early twenties when they worked at the dealership, where sexual harassment seemed to be the norm, and they felt they had no choice but to put up with it.”  EEOC lawyers filed the sexual harassment lawsuit after the EEOC first attempted to reach a voluntary settlement.  Further information about the EEOC and the laws it enforces is available at www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether employment related sexual harassment occurs in Beaumont, Galveston, Houston or elsewhere, victims of workplace sex discrimination may contact the EEOC or a lawyer to determine if a sexual harassment lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential employment discrimination claim.

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including workplace racial harassment that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  In this regard, the EEOC issued an October 1, 2009 Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/press/10-1-09l.html in which agency lawyers announced filing of a racial harassment lawsuit against a plumbing company.  According to the EEOC Press Release, lawyers charge in the lawsuit that the employee in this case was subjected to racial harassment because of his race, Black.  As stated in the Press Release, EEOC lawyers allege that supervisors and coworkers subjected the black employee to racial slurs and less desirable work assignments on a daily basis throughout his tenure at the company.  In addition, the lawsuit contends that the employee reported to work in June 2007 and encountered a swastika, KKK, and other symbols scrawled in paint on the work site floor.  The lawsuit further contends that the black employee also found a noose made of insulation at the same location and after he reported the incident to management, he was fired.  An EEOC lawyer quoted in the Press Release said, in part, that “The incidents alleged in this complaint remind us that racism remains a factor in the workplace.”  Further information about the EEOC and the laws it enforces is available in the federal agency’s website at www.eeoc.gov .

Whether workplace racial harassment occurs in Texas or elsewhere, vicitims of race related employment discrimination may contact the EEOC and a lawyer to determine if a racial harassment lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential race discrimination claim.

The United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (”DOJ”) enforces federal criminal civil rights statutes, including those laws that prohibit the willful use of excessive force or other acts of misconduct by law enforcement or other government officials.  In an October 26, 2009 DOJ Press Release found at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-crt-1153.html , the Civil Rights Division announced that a former corrections officer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been sentenced on federal civil rights charges related to the fatal assault of an inmate.  According to the DOJ Press Release, the former corrections officer was sentenced to serve a term of life in prison, three years post-release supervision and 75 hours of community service.  A United States Attorney was quoted in the Press Release as saying that “When correction officers make the corrupt choice to act as judge, jury and executioner, the United States will prosecute such actions aggressively, just as it did here.”  As stated in the Press Release, a federal jury in Orlando found the former correction officer guilty of two felony federal civil rights charges related to the fatal assault of a federal inmate.

Lawyers with the United States Department of Justice (”DOJ”) announced in an October 28, 2009 DOJ Press Release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-crt-1163.html that the DOJ reached a settlement resolving its lawsuit on behalf of a former Utah National Guardsman and current Airforce Reservist against Stonescape Pavers LLC.  According to the DOJ Press Release, DOJ lawyers alleged in the case that the company violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (”USERRA”) by terminating the service member during his statutorily protected reemployment time period.  Under the terms of the settlement, embodied in an agreement that has been submitted to the court, the company must provide the plaintiff with $10,000.00 to compensate him for his lost wages and benefits as a result of the company’s actions.  Prior to this announcement, DOJ lawyers had filed the DOJ’s 20th USERRA employment discrimination lawsuit of the year, alleging that a concrete company violated the rights of a Wisconsin Army National Guardsman by failing to properly reemploy him when he returned from active military duty in Iraq.  See, http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-crt-1130.html . 

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has given a high priority to the enforcement of servicemembers’ rights under USERRA.  Additional information about USERRA can be found on the Justice Department’s website at http://www.servicemembers.gov/ .

In an October 23, 2009 posting at http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=11370793 , WCAX.com states that a federal judge is weighing a $21.4 million offer by Eastman Kodak to settle two lawsuits by black employees who maintain they were paid and promoted less than white counterparts.  According to the Associated Press news article, the Rochester, New York based photography products company proposed this summer paying more than 3,000 current and past workers settlement amounts ranging from $1,000 to $75,000.00.  If approved, the deal would end a 2004 class action lawsuit and a similar lawsuit filed by other black workers in 2007.  As stated in the posting, the company was accused of paying black employees less than white co-workers, passing them over for promotions and maintaining a racially hostile work environment.

According to an October 22, 2009 Associated Press story appearing in The Houston Sun, more than a thousand of Lufkin Industries, Inc.’s current and former black employees stand to divvy up $5.5 million in back pay and interest as compensation for what a Federal Judge called the company’s unlawful discrimination in awarding promotions.  While each worker will get a modest sum, those who brought the lawsuit see the award as validation of their struggle for equality in a region often associated with racial turmoil.  Along with the $5.5 million in damages, U. S. District Judge Ron Clark has ordered Lufkin Industries to pay the plaintiffs’ attorney fees, estimated at nearly $5.6 million after 12 years of litigation.  As reported in the article, rulings, testimony and statistical analyses generated by the discrimination lawsuit allegedly show that the company channeled black workers into its foundry, where conditions were harshest, and unfairly denied promotions to black employees more than 100 times.  In addition, the article states that U. S. District Judge Howell Cobb found the company liable for both its handling of promotions and its placement of black workers in the foundry.  However, the article further reports that the foundry ruling was struck down on appeal because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had not investigated the matter.  Further information about the Associated Press story can be found in The Houston Sun, p. 3, October 22, 2009 edition.

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including workplace race discrimination.  In an October 22, 2009 Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/press/10-22-09.html , agency lawyers announced that an auto parts supplier has a agreed to resolve a race discrimination lawsuit by paying $105,000.00 and providing other relief.  According to the EEOC Press Release, lawyers charged in the case that the company subjected an African American worker to discrimination by failing to promote him to a maintenance position because of his race.  In this regard, race discrimination, including denying an employee a promotion based on race, violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.