COMPANIES AGREE TO PAY $150,000 AND TO MODIFY THEIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES
In early November, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it had settled a “sexual harassment and retaliation” lawsuit brought against Mueller Co. LLC (a seller of gas and water distribution products), and its cleaning-services company, IH Services, Inc., for $150,000.
Apparently, IH Services had assigned three female janitors to Mueller’s Albertville, Alabama, manufacturing facility. And that is where several male employees solicited the women, “exposed their genitals and made sexual comments about the women’s bodies and sex lives.” An employee is also alleged to have attempted to rape one of the women. When that conduct was reported to management, IH Services responded by reducing the complainants' hours, making them work overnight shifts, and suspending or terminating them.
Finding such conduct violative of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Mueller Co. LLC and IH Services, Inc., Case No. 4:23-cv-00552-CLM) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama,
In addition to the monetary settlement, the companies have agreed to revise their training and employment practices and will educate their employees about their rights (and responsibilities) under federal law.
In a written statement, EEOC Birmingham District Director Bradley Anderson, noted that, “Under Title VII, employers must provide a workplace free from severe or pervasive sexual harassment …. Companies like Mueller do not get a free pass when its employees harass individuals who are employed by another company. Likewise, employers like IH Services are liable for sex harassment of their employees even when the harasser is not its employee.”
Why does the whole thing still feel so dirty?
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