Dallas Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

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.