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LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW — 10/14/09

$1.3 million settles sexual harassment & retaliation class claims against private prison

A pattern or practice discrimination lawsuit against Dominion Correctional Services, LLC and Corrections Corporation of America, both doing business as Crowley County Correctional Facility, was settled on October 13, 2009 for $1.3 million and significant remedial relief. The suit was brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of 21 female former workers who were allegedly subjected to a sex-based hostile work environment and retaliation at an all-male, privately run medium security prison in Olney Springs, Colorado.

Allegations. Female employees at the prison were subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment that included male managers forcing them to perform sex acts in order to keep their jobs, according to the EEOC’s lawsuit ( EEOC v Dominion Corr Sers, DColo, No 1:06-cv-01956-KVH). Two chiefs of security, who reported directly to the warden and to whom all security personnel at the prison reported, were allowed to resign after numerous complaints of sexual harassment and rape, the EEOC alleged. In the settlement, the Defendants did not admit liability.

The federal agency said that among the allegations in the court record are the following: A female officer made a complaint of sexual harassment against a male coworker, and was then placed in an isolated location, where she was raped by the man about whom she had complained. The Chief of Security forced a female corrections officer to have intercourse with him, which she did in order to keep her job. After he left, the next Chief of Security was the subject of numerous written complaints of sexual harassment, including complaints that he regularly commented on female employee’s bodies, and touched female officers inappropriately.

Other male managers similarly expected their female subordinates to provide sexual favors, the EEOC asserts in its lawsuit. For example, a female corrections officer was coerced first into performing oral sex, and later intercourse, with a male captain, for fear of losing her job. Another female officer testified that a male lieutenant regularly made comments to her about how she looked and commented that he could do a lot better than her husband. He then allegedly told her that if she wanted to keep her job she needed to sleep with him. She resigned, the EEOC said.

In addition to these allegations, the female employees testified that the male employees openly viewed pornography in the workplace on a regular basis, made demeaning sexual comments about the female employees, and regularly told sexual jokes. For example, male officers allegedly made comments such as, “your ass looks good,” and “you have big boobs, can I touch them?”

Reprisals. Moreover, female employees who complained about the sexually hostile workplace were retaliated against, the lawsuit contends. The retaliation included ostracizing the women after their complaints were publicized, scrutinizing their work, accusing them of misconduct, and assigning them to the worst and most dangerous work assignments at the prison, the EEOC asserted.

“The conduct alleged here is reprehensible,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Mary Jo O’Neill of the Phoenix district, which includes Colorado. “In a profession already fraught with the danger of dealing with prison inmates, it is inexcusable that another layer of fear was imposed by the men to whom these women reported and with whom they worked.”

“This case illustrates the continuing struggle women face in jobs traditionally held by men,” added EEOC Denver Field Office Director Nancy Sienko. “The misuse of management power is especially troubling and will not be tolerated by the EEOC.”

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

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