Female Employee Subjected to Unwelcome Comments and Gestures by Store Manager, Federal Agency Charges

Dolgencorp, LLC, dba Dollar General Stores, Inc., violated federal law when it subjected female employees to sexual harassment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a recently filed lawsuit.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, a female employee alleged her supervisor, a store manager at the Dollar General store in Red Banks, Miss., repeatedly made unwelcome comments and gestures, all of a sexual nature, toward her. He also sent her unwelcome text messages. This employee was not the first employee to complain about the store manager's sexually harassing behavior. After a three-month-long investigation, the company suspended and then fired the store manager for "inappropriate conduct."

Such alleged conduct by the manager violated the prohibitions on sexual harassment in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Dolgencorp, LLC, Civil Action No. 3:17-cv-00023) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, Oxford Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The EEOC seeks injunctive relief prohibiting Dollar General from subjecting its female employees to sexual harassment in the future, as well as compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of the reporting employee.

Katharine W. Kores, district director of the EEOC's Memphis District Office, which has jurisdiction over Arkansas, Tennessee and portions of Mississippi, commented, "There is nothing ambiguous about the laws against sexual harassment. Managers may not subject their subordinates to such abuse in the workplace. Equally clear is the EEOC's continued commitment to its mission of enforcing Title VII's prohibition against sexual harassment, as well as other federal laws forbidding employment discrimination."

According to its website, Dollar General is one of the country's fastest growing small-box discount retailers, with over 13,000 stores in 43 states.

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.