HOUSEKEEPER FACED UNWANTED KISSING AND SEXUAL COMMENTS
In early February, Paramount Healthcare Consultants LLC -- an operator of nursing care facilities in Texas and Louisiana – settled a sex discrimination and retaliation case brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for $50,000.
The company allegedly failed to take remedial action in response an administrator’s sexual harassment of a female housekeeping aide who was reportedly subject to “unwanted sexual comments and forcible kissing.” Rather than address the misbehavior, the company is said to have retaliated against the complaining employee, forcing her to resign.
Believing that such conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC filed suit, Civil Action No. 3:23-cv-00359 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division, seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.
In addition to the $50,000 payment, the company agreed to improve its workplace policies and training practices and to post a notice in English and Spanish about rights and remedies available under sexual harassment laws.
In a written statement, EEOC Assistant Regional Attorney Suzanne Anderson noted that, “The housekeeping aide and her supervisor were at work, doing their jobs and trying to earn a daily living …. The administrator and the human resources managers acted irresponsibly in harassing the housekeeping aide and then retaliating against her and her supervisor. The EEOC was pleased to get relief for them after what they had endured in the workplace.”
Think housekeeping was paramount to Paramount?
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