In a news release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-8-10c.cfm , attorneys with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that a North Carolina building system company will pay $118,000 to African-American employees who filed charges of racial harassment against the company with the EEOC.  According to the April 8, 2010 EEOC news release, EEOC attorneys brought the racial harassment lawsuit against the company after it had identified at least 12 black employees who had been subjected to racial harassment.  As stated in the news release, EEOC attorneys charged in the race harassment case that black employees were subjected to racial harassment that involved the creation and display of nooses; references to black employees as “boy” and by the “N-word”; and racially offensive pictures such as a picture that depicted the Ku Klux Klan looking down a well at a black man.  In its complaint, the EEOC alleged that company managers not only knew about the harassment and took no action to stop or prevent it, but also that a manager was one of the perpetrators of the harassment. 

Racial harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  In this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including workplace racial harassment, and the EEOC filed the race harassment case after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement with the company.

Whether employment related racial discrimination occurs in Beaumont, Conroe, Houston or elsewhere, victims of racial discrimination may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if an employment discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential race harassment case.

Attorneys with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced in an April 8, 2010 EEOC news release that a Sonic Drive-In in Grapevine, Texas has agreed to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit for $31,000.00. See, http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-8-10b.cfm .  According to the press release, EEOC attorneys charged in the sexual harassment lawsuit that SDI of Grapevine [2240 Hall Johnson Road], a Texas Partnership, subjected a seventeen-year-old carhop to a sexually hostile work environment created by the general manager of the restaurant.  As the EEOC further stated, the general manager allegedly subjected the employee, an academic high school standout, to unwanted sexual conduct, including, for example, puckering his lips as if to give her a kiss, telling her how a woman should perform oral sex on a man, and pushing her head down in order to attempt to simulate oral sex when she would bend down to put on her roller skates.  The EEOC further contended that after the employee’s mother reported the conduct to company officials, the company failed to conduct a proper investigation and did not appropriately discipline the manager, even though the company found that he had engaged in “harassing behavior.”

Sexual harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and, in this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal law prohibiting employment discrimination, including sexual harassment and sex discrimination which creates a sexually hostile work environment.  EEOC attorneys filed the lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas.  An attorney with the EEOC’s Dallas District Office commented in part that “Young workers are often vulnerable … because … they are taught or accustomed to respect and obey persons in position of authority.” 

During Fiscal Year 2009, the EEOC and state and local fair employment practice agencies (FEPAs) received a combined total of 12,696 sexual harassment charge filings nationwide.  Further information about the EEOC and the laws it enforces is available at www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether workplace sexual harassment occurs in Dallas, Fort Worth, Grapevine or elsewhere, victims may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a sexual harassment lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential hostile work environment case.

In a press release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/April/10-crt-380.html , lawyers for the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a federal district judge in Texas has sentenced a Rio Honda, Texas man to three years in prison and five years of supervised release for violating the civil rights and the sexual abuse of females in his custody at a Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas.  According to the April 7, 2010 press release, the former detention center guard pleaded guilty in September 2009 to a six-count criminal information charging him with three counts of abusive sexual contact and three counts deprivation of rights under color of law.  As stated in the DOJ press release, the former guard admitted that on several occasions in March and April of 2008, he snuck into medical isolation rooms at the detention center infirmary to grope female patients and that his actions caused the female victims psychological pain and embarrassment.

The man reportedly worked at the detention center for six-and-a-half years as a guard and was employed by a private company that contracted with the United States government.  In this regard, the DOJ said that when confronted by agents from the U. S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the man admitted to sexually touching five different women.

Trial attorneys with the DOJ Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the civil rights case in the U. S. Southern District of Texas.  For more information about the U. S. Department of Justice and its Civil Rights Division, see www.justice.gov .

Religious discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for the sincerely held religious beliefs of their employees as long as no undue hardship is posed against the business.  In this regard, the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-30-10.cfm that agency attorneys filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against a home improvement company, alleging that the business violated federal law by requiring an employee to work on his Sabbath and by harassing and retaliating against the employee, causing him to lose hours.  According to the EEOC’s March 30, 2010 press release, the lawsuit charges that the company refused to accommodate a current employee’s sincere religious belief as a Baptist against working on the Sabbath, Sunday.  As stated in the press release, EEOC attorneys contend in the case that the employee’s written requests for religious accommodation were ignored for two months and then denied because the company asserted that it might create a hardship on other employees who might like to have Sundays off.  EEOC attorneys filed the suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement. 

The EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including religious discrimination.  Further information about the EEOC and the federal laws enforced by the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether religion based employment discrimination occurs in Beaumont, Conroe, Houston or elsewhere, victims may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a religious discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential employment discrimination claim.

Lawyers with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, have announced in a March 26, 2010 press release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-26-10a.cfm that a retaliation lawsuit has been filed against a trucking company charged with violating federal law by allegedly firing an employee for complaining about sexual harassment.  According to the EEOC press release, agency lawyers contend in the case that a truck driver complained to management officials that she had been subjected to unwelcome sexual advances and remarks over the CB radio by her co-workers.  As further stated in the press release, the EEOC contends that she was fired shortly after her complaint in retaliation for complaining about the sexual harassment.

Retaliating against an individual for reporting sexual harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  EEOC lawyers filed the retaliation lawsuit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation, voluntary settlement.  In this regard, an EEOC Director was quoted in the press release as saying “The EEOC will act to prevent this type of misconduct, and we urge employers to take swift and decisive action in response to reports of sexual harassment and hostile work environments.”  Further information about the EEOC and the federal laws it enforces is available at www.eeoc.gov .

Whether employment-related retaliation for complaining about or opposing workplace sexual harassment occurs in Beaumont, Conroe, Houston or elsewhere, victims may contact the EEOC and a lawyer to determine if a retaliation lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential retaliation claim.