- Comply with current federal and state discrimination and harassment employee training requirements.
- Document and investigate all claims of harassment and discrimination, then take necessary action.
- Audit independent contractor agreements to ensure proper classification.
Several EEOC Actions Should Be a Warning to Employers
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is an agency of the federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). The purpose of the EEOC is to interpret and enforce federal laws prohibiting discrimination. To achieve these goals, the EEOC holds hearings, administers equal employment opportunity laws for employees of the federal government, issues regulations interpreting the law, and litigates discrimination cases, among other things. The EEOC also accepts charges of discrimination from employees, investigates those charges, and attempts to mediate settlements between employees and employers. The following EEOC actions should be a warning to employers: EEOC announces $17 million verdict against farm employer. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a federal jury verdict awarding a total of $17,425,000 to five former female employees of Moreno Farms, Inc., a produce growing and packing operation in Felda, Florida, who suffered sexual harassment and retaliation. According to the EEOC’s suit, two sons of the owner of Moreno Farms and a third male supervisor engaged in graphic acts of sexual harassment against female workers, including regular groping and propositioning, threatening female employees with termination if they refused the supervisors’ sexual advances, and attempting to rape and raping multiple female employees. All five women were ultimately fired for opposing the three men’s sexual harassment. New York employer settles EEOC suit for $3.8 million. The EEOC and New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman in September announced that Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Edison), would pay $3.8 million to resolve charges by a class of female workers who claimed the employer subjected them to sexual harassment and/or various forms of sex discrimination. The joint settlement agreement between the EEOC, the Attorney General’s Office, and Con Edison resolves allegations of ongoing sexual harassment and discrimination against women in field positions. The agreement requires Con Edison to reserve up to $3.8 million to be distributed among eligible settlement group members. EEOC race discrimination suit settled for $1.6 million. A U.S. district court in South Carolina in September ordered BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC, to pay $1.6 million and provide job opportunities to settle a race discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC. The suit claimed that BMW excluded African- American logistics workers from employment at a disproportionate rate when the company’s new logistics contractor applied BMW’s criminal conviction records guidelines to incumbent logistics employees. DOL, Vermont sign misclassification agreement. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Vermont Department of Labor announced in September that they had signed a three-year memorandum of understanding intended to prevent the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. Under the agreement, both agencies may share information and coordinate law enforcement. The DOL has similar agreements with Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming Recommendations: Update your policies and/or employee handbook each year to ensure that policies on discrimination and harassment are compliant with state and federal law.