“The Supreme Court has held that when an employer learns of sexual harassment, it must take immediate and effective action to stop it…Employers who don’t protect their workers should know that the federal 
government will enforce the national policy against sexual abuse in the workplace…retaliation complaints have been the fastest-increasing type of complaint filed with the EEOC over the past 10 years…”
A Merrill, Wis., restaurant will pay $41,000 and furnish other relief under a consent decree entered by the federal court in a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
According to the EEOC’s suit (EEOC and Sherry L. Brown v. Merrill Pine Ridge LLC, et al., No. 3:11-cv-589), one of the cooks at New Pine Ridge restaurant, Shahi N. Selmani, created a sexually hostile work environment when he repeatedly made crude remarks to waitresses and grabbed their breasts. The EEOC alleged that, despite the women’s complaints, restaurant owner Qemal Alimi did not stop Selmani’s harassment and instead fired some of the waitresses in retaliation for their complaints.
Sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining about it violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit in August 2011 after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
Selmani did not stop working for the restaurant until months after criminal charges were filed against him. Eventually he pled no contest on Dec. 9, 2010 in Lincoln County Circuit Court (Case Nos. 2009CM25 and 2009CM101) to having committed Class A misdemeanor battery against three waitresses. Charges of fourth-degree sexual assault, bail jumping and disorderly conduct were dismissed but “read into” the record of his conviction.
For more:Â http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/1-17-13a.cfm
