After failed attempts to settle through their conciliation process, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a discrimination suit in federal court against Help At Home, Inc., a company that provides home heath care for disabled and elderly persons.
The lawsuit alleges that Help at Home allowed its regional supervisor to sexually harass subordinate employees and that it improperly fired individuals who complained about the harassment conduct. It should be obvious, but neither is permissible under federal laws.
In the complaint, the EEOC alleges that in 2009 two employees of the Help at Home Hillsboro office, Kari McConnell and Jaclyn Stone, complained that the Regional Director, Chris Qualls, had sexually harassed them. The two women complained that Qualls made sexually graphic comments to them and described sexual acts that he claimed to have performed with another employee at the work site.
McConnell and Stone made their complaint to their branch manager Sherry Schroetter. Schroetter in turn reported the harassment to Vice President of Help at Home, Rick Cantrell. Subsequently, McConnell, Stone and Schroetter were all fired.
The EEOC is the organization charged with enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that makes discrimination in the workplace illegal. Sexual harassment is a type of discrimination based on one’s sex. Under the act it is illegal for an employer to allow a hostile work environment, including one wrought with sexually charged commentary or conduct.
To prove hostile work environment sexual harassment, a claimant must show that either the conduct was so severe or frequent that it changed the conditions of employment creating a hostile work environment, or that it culminated in an adverse employment action. In the case the Help at Home suit, the EEOC has charged both.
It bears noting that isolated incidents of harassment, unless extremely severe, or offhand comments or teasing will not suffice to support a claim of sexual harassment under Title VII. Consult a sexual harassment lawyer in Orange County for more information and to assess the merits of your case.
In the case of Help at Home, the EEOC is claiming retaliation, or an adverse employment action as a consequence of reporting the sexual harassment, as well. It is against Federal law for an employer to fire, demote, deny benefits to, or to fail to promote an employee that is engaged in protected activities, as a result of their participation in those activities. Reporting sexual harassment is one such protected activity. In other words, you cannot be fired for reporting discrimination in the workplace, even if you are not the victim of the discrimination reported.
If you or anyone you know is the victim of sexual harassment at work, or have been fired as a result of reporting sexual harassment, a sexual harassment lawyer in Orange County can help.