Walsh Construction settles EEOC case
www.yahoo.com 2007-11-29
Walsh Construction Co. of Illinois agreed to pay $130,000, and to provide "significant remedial relief," to resolve a sexual-harassment suit the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed on behalf of a female former construction laborer who worked at the Millenium Park Garage construction site, the EEOC's Chicago office said today.
The EEOC had filed suit against against Walsh in 2003, alleging that the construction company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act because it "failed to take prompt and effective action" in regard to the alleged harassment of Janice Lenoir. Lenoir's supervisor had subjected the construction worker and flagger to a series of improper comments, the EEOC's suit alleged.
Walsh asked the U.S. District Court in Chicago last year to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the company had tried to address complaints about the foreman, who had a reputation as a repeat offender. But the court refused that request, saying that although the company may have dealt with the treatment the construction laborer was experiencing, Walsh hadn't proved that it had addressed the full pattern of the foreman's behavior.
The EEOC's complaint alleged that the foreman decided to resume his alleged harassment after his supervisor was replaced and the threat of punishment was removed.
"Having hired this woman to work on its construction site, Walsh had a legal duty and moral responsibility to protect her from sexual harassment by its foreman in this traditionally male-dominated industry," EEOC Chicago regional attorney John Hendrickson said.
In settling the lawsuit through the consent decree, Walsh didn't admit to any wrongdoing.
The decree calls for the company to pay Lenoir $130,000, and to also take a number of steps making sure that employees and managers are trained in the rules regarding sexual harassment.
Among those steps, EEOC senior trial attorney Gordon Waldron noted in an interview, is an agreement on Walsh's part to to maintain records of employees who generate sexual-harassment complaints.
Construction sites are by nature temporary workplaces, Waldron noted, and in that sense "they're different" from offices or other fixed work sites.
Because the mix of employees changes so frequently in such an environment, he said, it's "important that Walsh keep records of harassers," so it can better identify employees who demonstrate patterns of harassing behavior.
(editor : jane)
