This is a case where training definitely could have helped!!
In a victory for the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a jury in federal district court here has
returned a $1,260,080 verdict in a significant sexual harassment
lawsuit brought by the agency. The verdict settled the EEOC’s suit
against Paul’s Big M grocery store in Oswego, N.Y., that had charged
that a class of female employees, many of whom were teenagers still in
high school at the time, was subjected to a sexually hostile work
environment by the store’s general manager for more than 10 years.
The EEOC’s lawsuit (2008-CV-01019), charged KarenKim, Inc. -- known
as Paul’s Big M -- with sexually harassing a class of female workers
from 2001 onward at the Oswego store. The harassment, the EEOC said,
included egregious acts of verbal and physical sexual conduct by the
company’s general manager, Allen Manwaring. For example, the EEOC
charged, Manwaring suggested a sexual threesome with one teenage
cashier’s mother, stuck his tongue in another teenage cashier’s mouth
and grabbed and touched the breasts and buttocks of other women.
At trial, woman after woman testified that Manwaring made sexual
propositions, described his sex life with owner Karen Connors, to whom
he was engaged, made lewd gestures to employees and touched or grabbed
them in private areas. Many witnesses testified about the longstanding
and ongoing relationship between Manwaring and Connors. They cited the
relationship as one reason why the store and Connors refused to take
action in response to repeated complaints about sexual harassment by
Manwaring.
Manwaring testified that he pled guilty in 2008 to one criminal count
of harassment in the second degree in satisfaction of four other
charges after four women complained to the police. Connors testified
that Manwaring was only given a 30-day paid suspension following his
guilty plea. The harassment continued until Manwaring was fired in 2010
for sexually harassing another young woman, the EEOC said, although she
testified that she was pressured by the company not to reveal the
harassment or the reason for Manwaring’s termination.
The EEOC reported that the company repeatedly failed to take
necessary steps to stop the harassment, despite numerous complaints to
management and the police. The agency also asserted that working
conditions were so intolerable that some of the women were forced to
quit.
Sexual harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a
pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
After a nearly two-week trial that started January 3, the jury
rendered a verdict in favor of the EEOC, awarding $1,250,000 in punitive
damages against the company. It also awarded an additional $10,080 to
13 women to compensate them for the emotional pain and suffering they
endured including Andrea Bradford, Judith Goodrich, and Deborah Haskins,
the three women who first brought the harassment to the EEOC’s
attention. Total damages awarded to the 13 women amounted to
$1,260,080. The EEOC will also ask the court to award injunctive relief
designed to prevent future discrimination.