EEOC’S LAWSUIT MUST HAVE GOTTEN THEIR GOAT
Perro Family Farms Food Company, LLC, a Delray Beach (Florida) “farming and produce supplier,” is said to have allegedly violated federal law when it failed to adequately address the harassment of a female employee by a male forklift driver. The latter supposedly made remarks that were “lewd and sexual, insulting, and threatening.” And even though he was assigned to a different shift, the misconduct reportedly continued. After the woman obtained an order of protection, the miscreant was initially fired, but (inexplicably) he was later rehired.
Believing that such conduct violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Pero Family Farms Food Co., LLC., Case No. 1:23-cv-00622) in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, seeking monetary damages for the impacted employee’s “emotional distress,” together with an award of punitive damages.
In a written statement, an EEOC Senior Trial Attorney, Dale Price, noted, “An employer cannot condone a work environment where a female employee is degraded and threatened because of her sex or wait until it is presented with a protection order before it decides to act …. “It must step in to stop such behavior as soon as possible. The EEOC will vigorously pursue violations of Title VII and seek injunctive relief when employers fail to act promptly and appropriately.”
Think they had a cow when they got that complaint?
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