10/01/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/01/2024 12:03
PHOENIX - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed three lawsuits alleging that employers in Arizona, Utah and Wyoming violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allowing sexual harassment to permeate their workplaces. The employers permitted work environments that were illegally hostile toward female employees and, in two of the cases, resulted in physical sexual assault.
"The EEOC continues its mission to protect workers across the spectrum of workplaces under the agency's purview and to guide employers in ensuring that employees are safe, protected, and treated with dignity and respect, including to have their complaints about sexual harassment taken seriously," said EEOC General Counsel Karla Gilbride. "In furtherance of this mission, the EEOC's recent harassment guidance is a helpful resource for employers, employees and practitioners that reflects the continued importance of this issue to the agency."
Today, the EEOC's Phoenix District Office, which has jurisdiction for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and part of New Mexico, filed:
"Federal law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace, regardless of whether the offender is the owner of the business, a co-worker, a customer or a resident," said Regional Attorney Mary Jo O'Neill of the EEOC's Phoenix District Office. "The EEOC has pursued, and will continue to pursue, charges of sexual harassment against employers regardless of the status of the offender. Employers have a legal duty to stop sexual harassment and to protect their workers from such egregious sexual harassment in the workplace."
EEOC Phoenix District Director Melinda Caraballo said, "Sexual harassment that alters an employee's working conditions is a violation of federal law. The EEOC is committed to protecting vulnerable workers and will vigorously pursue relief for the victims and in the public interest."
Last fiscal year, the number of charges the EEOC received involving harassment jumped more than 28% to 31,354, the highest since the agency started monitoring harassment charge numbers in fiscal year 2010. Charges involving retaliation reached more than 46,000, a 31-year high. For more information on sexual harassment, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment.
The EEOC recently issued updated Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/enforcement-guidance-harassment-workplace. For more information on harassment, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/harassment. For more information on retaliation, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/retaliation.
The EEOC prevents and remedies unlawful employment discrimination and advances equal opportunity for all. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.