COMPANY FAILED TO APPROPRIATELY ADDRESS THEIR MANAGERS’ MISCONDUCT
Because Midwest Farms failed to take appropriate action in response to complaints about the conduct of its male managers, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit alleging violations of federal law.
Apparently, a male manager is said to have entered the women’s dressing room (on at least three different times) without knocking (while women were in various states of undress), while yet another regularly used “vulgar sexual language” and made “sexual propositions.” Because the company failed to take appropriate corrective action, at least one employee was forced to resign, while another was discharged after voicing complaints to management and human resources.
Believing that such conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC filed civil litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (EEOC v. Midwest Farms, LLC, Civil Action No. 1:23-cv-02531-MDB) seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.
In a written statement, said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix District, noted that “Sexual harassment remains a problem in the agricultural industry …. The EEOC will continue to enforce anti-discrimination laws on behalf of women farmworkers who are vulnerable to sexual harassment and retaliation in the workplace.”
Are they planting seeds of acceptance there?
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