In a press release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/2-22-10.cfm , a trial attorney with the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) comments that racial harassment in the workplace will not be tolerated, adding “Discrimination is not a joke - it’s a violation of federal law.”  In this regard, the EEOC’s February 22, 2010 press release announces the filing of a racial harassment lawsuit in which  federal agency attorneys charge that a party rental company violated federal law by subjecting black employees to a racially hostile work environment.  According to the press release, the EEOC lawsuit alleges that a driver and warehouse employee, as well as other African American employees, were repeatedly subjected to unwelcome derogatory racial comments and slurs, including epithets such as the “N-word,” as well as racial jokes, by one of the company owners.  EEOC attorneys further assert in the case that complaints were made but the harassment continued. 

In this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including workplace racial harassment.  EEOC attorneys filed the hostile work environment lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Title VII makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of race.  EEOC attorneys filed the racial harassment lawsuit after the EEOC first attempted to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement. 

Whether an employer creates a racially hostile workplace in Beaumont, Conroe, Houston or elsewhere, victims of employment related racial harassment may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a hostile work environment lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential employment discrimination claim.

The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.  In a February 3, 2010 press release found on the internet at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/2-3-10c.cfm , EEOC attorneys announced two settlements against a hotel operator for $500,000 and signficant remedial relief in cases alleging national origin discrimination and sexual harassment.  Both lawsuits were filed in September 2007 under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In the first lawsuit, EEOC attorneys charged that non-Chinese banquet servers were rejected for hire based on their national origin when a San Gabriel Hilton severed its contract and hired Landwin Management, a hotel operator, to operate the establishment in April 2005.  The EEOC claimed that all the non-Chinese banquet servers who previously worked for the hotel at the time, many of whom were Latino, were not hired back during the turnover and were instead replaced with less qualified Chinese workers.

In the second lawsuit, EEOC attorneys charged that the Hotel subjected female employees to a sexually hostile work environment, including verbal sexual harassment by the housekeeping supervisor, who referred to the women as “whores” and “prostitutes” in addition to other offensive language.  The supervisor also allegedly reprimanded the female employees if they even spoke to men, and the operator failed to respond to the employees’ complaints of harassment.

An EEOC attorney involved in the employment discrimination lawsuit commented that “The days when employers make decisions based on stereotypes and assumptions shaped by the race or national origin of their employees should be far behind us.”  Further information about the EEOC and the laws it enforces is available at www.eeoc.gov .

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

Religious harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including religious harassment in the workplace.  In this regard, EEOC lawyers announced in a Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/11-2-09a.cfm that the EEOC has filed a federal religious discrimination lawsuit against a staffing company which provides cable service in the Baltimore metropolitan area.  According to the November 2, 2009 Press Release, EEOC lawyers contend in the lawsuit that a Florida company and a Texas company subjected two employees to physical and verbal harassment because of their religion, Judaism.  As further stated in the Press Release, EEOC lawyers assert that beginning in September 2005 and continuing throughout their employment, both employees were called “Dirty Jew,” “Dumb Jew,” and other anti-Semitic slurs against Jews by managers and coworkers.  Moreover, the religious harassment continued for a couple of years, the EEOC said, and included the defacing of one employee’s work vehicle with a swastika symbol and physical harassment in which the employee was allegedly forced into a trash bin for the amusement of managers who observed them on a work surveillance camera and called it “throw the Jew in the dumpster.”  An EEOC lawyer was quoted in the Press Release as saying “Employers must take steps to prevent religious harassment of their employees [and] we brought this lawsuit to remind employers of their legal responsibility to prevent and promptly correct this type of conduct.” 

Religious discrimination charge filings with the EEOC nationwide totaled 3,273 in Fiscal Year 2008, up 11.4 percent from the prior year and the highest level in the past decade.  Further information about the EEOC and the laws it enforces can be found at www.eeoc.gov .   

Whether a hostile work environment based on religious harassment occurs in Texas or elsewhere, victims of workplace religious harassment may contact the EEOC and a lawyer to determine if a religious discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential employment discrimination claim.

The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including race based discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  In an EEOC Ohio Press Release, the federal agency announced that EEOC attorneys filed a racial harassment lawsuit, alleging that a landfill company subjected its African American employees to race based harassment.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/9-29-09q.html .  As stated in the September 29, 2009 Press Release, EEOC attorneys charge that the landfill company subjected two workers to unlawful racial harassment and retaliation, including allegedly condoning the repeated use of racial slurs by its supervisors and the permanent display of the Confederate flag on its property.  EEOC attorneys filed the discrimination lawsuit in Ohio after first attempting to reach a voluntary out of court settlement.  An EEOC attorney with the agency’s Detriot Field Office was quoted in the Press Release as saying, in part, that “Egregious conduct in the form of racial slurs, especially when uttered by supervisors, plainly cannot be tolerated.”  Further information about the EEOC and the laws enforced by this federal agency may be found in the EEOC’s website at www.eeoc.gov .

In a September 9, 2009 Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/press/9-9-09a.html , the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced that an oilfield service company based in Alice, Texas will pay $60,000.00 and furnish other relief to settle a race, national origin and retaliation discrimination lawsuit filed by EEOC attorneys in the Southern District of Texas.  According to the EEOC Press Release, agency attorneys charged in the federal lawsuit that the company’s Hispanic supervisors discriminated against a parts department employee because of his race (Caucasian) and national origin (non-Hispanic) and then fired him for complaining.  As stated in the Press Release, the company subjected the employee to harassment, a hostile work environment, and disparate terms and conditions of employment because he is not Latino.  EEOC attorneys claimed as well that the company further violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by unlawfully retaliating against the employee when it allegedly fired him after he complained to Human Resources.  In this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including race and national origin discrimination.  An EEOC trial attorney was quoted in the lawsuit settlement Press Release as saying “A continuously hostile environment that is permeated with degrading name calling makes it very difficult for anyone to want to come to work.”  Another attorney in the EEOC’s Dallas office added that “Even in rough-and-tumble workplaces like the oilfields, there are effective ways of educating supervisory personnel on how to promote mutual respect between crew members.”  Further information about the EEOC is available in the agency’s website at www.eeoc.gov .

Whether employment related race and national origin discrimination occurs in Alice, Corpus Christi, Dallas or elsewhere in Texas, victims of workplace discrimination may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a hostile work environment discrimination lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential discrimination claim.

The Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division (”TWCCRD”) enforces the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act; which has been codified into Texas Labor Code, Chapter 21.  The Texas Labor Code prohibits employment discrimination, including sex discrimination and sexual harassment.  For its own part, the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including sex discrimination and sexual harassment.  Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In an August 21, 2009 EEOC Press Release, the federal agency announced a major settlement of a discrimination lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against a major home improvement company for $1.72 million and significant remedial relief on behalf of three employees in their twenties who were subjected to a pervasive sexually hostile work environment and retaliated against for complaining about it.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/8-21-09.html .  According to the EEOC Press Release, the sexually hostile workplace, which endured for more than six months, included physical and verbal abuse which culminated in one instance of sexual assault.  In this regard, attorneys alleged in the lawsuit that a female employee was sexually assaulted by a 44-year-old male store manager.  As stated in the Press Release, the EEOC asserted that the company not only failed to take prompt remedial action to stop the sexual harassment, but also fired the three victims in the case.  An EEOC attorney quoted in the Press Release said “No worker, regardless of gender or other discriminatory factors, should ever have to endure harassment in order to earn a paycheck.” 

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates and intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.  See, TWCCRD “Employment Discrimination Fact Sheets” at http://www.twc.state.tx.us/crd/facts.html . 

Whether a sexually hostile workplace arises in Houston, Huntsville, Pearland or elsewhere, victims of sexual harassment may contact the EEOC and, in Texas, the TWCCRD, as well as an attorney to determine if a hostile work environment lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential sexual harassment claim.

The U. S. 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 this regard, EEOC attorneys announced in an August 7, 2009 EEOC Press Release that the agency filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against a temporary employment staffing firm and a construction company, alleging that they violated federal law by subjecting a class of female employees to a sexually hostile work environment.  According to the Press Release, the plaintiffs were subjected to sexual harassment, including inappropriate sexual comments, requests for sex, and unwelcome touching of the women’s breasts and buttocks by a labor foreman who supervised them and by employees of a third party contractor performing work at the construction company’s work site.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/8-10-09.html .  The EEOC contends that the women complained about the sexual harassment to the temporary staffing company office manager and asked to be transferred to another work site because of the harassment, but their request was denied.  In addition, the EEOC claims that the women complained to the contruction company foreman.  As stated in the Press Release, the harassment continued and the women were forced to resign.  An EEOC attorney quoted in the Press Release called the case a reminder to employers to provide a harassment free workplace regardless of who perpetrates the harassment.  The EEOC filed the lawsuit after first attempting to reach a voluntary out of court settlement.

Whether a sexually hostile work environment arises in Baytown, Freeport, Houston or elsewhere, victims of sexual harassment related to employment may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a hostile work environment lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential sexual harassment claim.

A major Midwestern lumber supplier has been sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) for allegedly allowing female employees to be sexually harassed at its sawmill business in Wisconsin.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/7-31-09c.html . According to the EEOC Press Release, the agency’s administrative investigation which preceded the lawsuit revealed that a company supervisor created a sexually hostile work environment when he repeatedly exposed his genitals to female employees over a period of years.  The EEOC also alleges that the company did not fire the supervisor until a County District Attorney began an investigation which led to the supervisor being charged under Wisconsin state law with two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior.  An EEOC attorney was quoted in the Press Release as saying: “Despite all of the negative attention focused on sexual harassment over the past 20 years, it continues to be an area which demands the EEOC’s focused law enforcement attention.”  In this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, and, as stated by the EEOC’s Chicago District Director in the Press Release, “Employers who don’t protect their workers’ rights need to know that the federal government will enforce our national policy against sexual abuse in the workplace.”  Additional information about the EEOC may be found at www.eeoc.gov .

In a July 30, 2009 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) Press Release, EEOC attorneys announced filing of a national origin discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against a Las Vegas hotel.  According to the EEOC Press Release, the EEOC claims that the hotel violated federal law by creating a hostile work environment for an Egyptian kitchen employee through a daily barrage of derogatory comments, including, for example, comments and slurs from supervisors and coworkers such as being called “f_____ Egyptian” and being told to “go back to Egypt,” as well as being targeted with graffiti, which he was then required to wash off.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/7-30-09d.html .  As further described in the Press Release, the Egyptian food deliverer made repeated complaints about the harassment, but the defendants allegedly failed to take effective measures to stop it, and, instead, supervisors retaliated against him, which included disciplinary write-ups and suspension.  National origin discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.  In this regard, EEOC attorneys filed the harassment lawsuit after first attempting to reach a voluntary out of court settlement.  An EEOC attorney quoted in the Press Release stated that “The EEOC takes retaliation very seriously because workers who speak up and speak out against unlawful discrimination should not be forced to endure more problems because they have done the right thing.”

In a July 21, 2009 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) Press Release, the federal agency announced that the owners of a Lexington, North Carolina furniture store will pay $80,000.00 and furnish significant injunctive relief to settle a race harassment lawsuit filed by EEOC attorneys.  According to the EEOC Press Release, the race discrimination lawsuit alleged that three black production workers were subjected to a racially hostile work environment at various times between 2004 and August 2006.  In this regard, the EEOC claimed that the three were subjected to racial harassment in the form of racial slurs directed at them and that the racial slurs included references to African Americans as “monkeys,” statements that blacks should “go back and see [their] ancestors in the jungle,” and name-calling, including the use of the “N-word.”  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/7-21-09.html .  The EEOC alleged that the company was aware of the racial harassment and took no action to stop or prevent it.  In this regard, racial harassment violates Title VII of the Civil rights Act of 1964, and the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.  An EEOC attorney quoted in the Press Release stated that racial harassment and other forms of race discrimination continue to exist in our nation’s workplaces and the EEOC will continue to take all steps necessary to eliminate this type of unlawful conduct.  Further information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov .   

Whether unlawful employment related racial harassment occurs in Houston, Texas or elsewhere, victims of a racially hostile work environment may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a race discrimination lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential race harassment claim.