Lawyers Settle Texas Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Trial lawyers with the Dallas Office of the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in a January 11, 2010 Press Release that a Crowell, Texas based cap manufacturing facility has agreed to settle a sexual harassment and constructive discharge lawsuit filed by the federal agency in the Wichita Falls Division for the Northern District of Texas.  According to the EEOC Press Release found at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/1-11-10.cfm , lawyers charged in the case that the company subjected an embroidery machine operator to a sexually hostile work environment created by the company’s president and co-owner.  As stated in the Press Release, the alleged male harasser would tug on the employee’s pants and made multiple threats to her to pull down her pants.  In this regard, EEOC lawyers contended that he made good on the threats when he pulled her pants down in front of her co-workers, humiliating and embarrassing her.  The continuing harassment, culminating in this invasive behavior, forced her to resign, according to the EEOC.  A trial lawyer with the EEOC’s Dallas Office commented, in part, as follows: “To have such a high level official subject a subordinate employee to such mistreatment has the potential to establish acceptance of such behavior in the workplace.”  Another EEOC lawyer added as follows: “This settlement should serve as a notice to employers that the EEOC does not consider the threat or the act of pulling a woman’s pants down in the workplace to be a sophmoric prank.”

The EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including sexual harassment that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  During Fiscal Year 2007, the EEOC and state and local fair employment practice agencies received a combined total of 12,510 sexual harassment charge filings nationwide.  EEOC lawyers filed the sexual harassment lawsuit in Texas after the EEOC first attempted to reach a pre-litigation settlement.  Further information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov .

Whether job related sexual harassment and discrimination occurs in Dallas, Houston, Wichita Falls or elsewhere, victims of a sexually hostile work environment may contact the EEOC and a lawyer to determine whether an employment discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate in Texas under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential workplace harassment claim.