Mississippi Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Attorneys with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in a July 1, 2009 EEOC Press Release that the federal agency filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against a St. Louis based plastic injection molding company, alleging the company violated federal law by subjecting a class of female employees at its Sherman, Mississippi plant to a sexually hostile work environment and forcing several of them to quit their jobs.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/7-1-09a.html .  According to the Press Release, the EEOC’s lawsuit charges that the company allowed a male supervisor and other male co-workers to harass a female press operator and other women at the Sherman, Mississippi plant.  The EEOC says the female workers were forced to endure myriad sexually explicit comments and propositions, and many of the victims were grabbed and touched by the male supervisor.  As stated in the Press Release, several women quit because of the harassment, and one women quit her job after the male supervisor phoned her at work threatening to sexually assault her in the employees’ parking lot.  Although several complaints were made by victims to management, the company failed to properly investigate complaints and stop the misconduct, the EEOC contends.  In addition, the EEOC states that this alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits harassment based on sex.  EEOC attorneys filed the sexual harassment lawsuit in Oxford, Mississippi after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.  Further information about the EEOC is available in the agency’s website at www.eeoc.gov . 

Whether sexually hostile work conditions arise in Mississippi or elsewhere, victims of employment related sexual harassment may contact the EEOC and an attorney or lawyer to determine if a sexual harassment lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential hostile work environment claim.