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LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW — 03/01/10

Sand and gravel company to pay $498,000 to settle EEOC sex bias and reprisal suit

Oldcastle SW Group, Inc, doing business as United Companies of Mesa County, agreed to pay $498,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sex discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed under Title VII, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced on February 24, 2010.

Allegations. The woman who complained was hired in 1998 by Delta Sand and Gravel of Grand Junction and Montrose, Colorado (now part of Old Castle SW Group, dba United Companies of Mesa County), the EEOC’s lawsuit alleged (EEOC v Old Castle SW Group, dba United Companies of Mesa County, DColo, No 08-cv-01385-RPM). She drove a truck, batched concrete, dispatched trucks and acted as plant manager before she was assigned to work as a quality control technician, where she remained until she was fired.

Through much of her employment, the woman who eventually complained (and has asked not to be publicly identified) was in what was widely considered to be a “man’s job,” the EEOC said. After she started working in quality control, the sex-based bias against her became overt, culminating in sex-related name-calling and active interference with her ability to perform her job, according to the lawsuit. Managers and coworkers alike were overheard making crude gender-based insults, and expressing in clear terms that women should not be working in the plant, the EEOC asserted.

Several male coworkers saw and overheard the harassment and degrading treatment and offered to support the woman if she wanted to complain, confirmed the EEOC. She then did complain to management, identified the men who offered to support her, and the men confirmed her allegations, according to the EEOC. After a plant-wide meeting was held to discuss the complaints, these men also expressed fear that they would be retaliated against because they supported their female coworker. The department manager called the men “crybaby ^&#(@#&@(” and “troublemakers,” and told them they had better “shut the @*!* up,” the EEOC alleged. Over the next seven months, the company terminated the woman and two of the men who supported her, the federal agency said.

Settlement. In addition to the monetary relief to the employees, the three-year decree settling the suit enjoins United Companies of Mesa County from engaging in harassment on the basis of sex and from retaliating against employees who complain about it. The employer agreed to train its current and future managers and employees on antidiscrimination laws and to post notices stating its commitment to maintaining an environment free of sexual harassment and retaliation.

Employers have a responsibility to maintain an environment free of sex discrimination and retaliation,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Mary Jo O’Neill. “Here, the managers themselves committed both those offenses. This settlement achieves the EEOC’s objectives by providing important training to the managers and all employees to prevent this kind of misconduct in the future, and brings appropriate relief to the three victims of discrimination and retaliation.

Upward charge trend. Rayford Irvin, Acting District Director of the EEOC’s Phoenix district (which includes Colorado) noted that the federal agency has seen a dramatic increase in retaliation charges in recent years. Retaliation charges filed with EEOC offices nationwide have trended upward since the early 1990s, from approximately 12,000 in fiscal year (FY) 1992 to a record high of 33,613 in FY 2009.

For more information on this and other topics, consult CCH Employment Practices Guide or CCH Labor Relations.

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