harassment

Subscribe to harassment via RSS

By Matthew J. Gagnon, Christopher J. DeGroff, and Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.

Seyfarth Synopsis: With uncertain times and profound changes anticipated for the EEOC, employers anxiously await what enforcement litigation the EEOC has in store. Although 2016 showed a marked decline in filings, fiscal year 2017 shows a return to vigorous enforcement filings, with a substantial number of …
Continue Reading Tick, Tock….The EEOC Runs Out The Clock – Fiscal Year 2017 Marks A Last Minute Return To Frantic Filing

armor-158430__340By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Alex W. Karasik

Seyfarth Synopsis:  In a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the EEOC, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a U.S. District Court’s grant of an employer’s motion for summary judgment after finding that the harassing employee was not a supervisor under Title VII, and therefore the company was not vicariously liable for his actions.
Continue Reading Sixth Circuit Shuts Down EEOC’s Appeal In Sex Harassment Suit

th7OX71VIZBy Julie G. Yap and Alison H. Hong

Seyfarth Synopsis: The EEOC obtains a multi-million dollar default judgment against an out-of-business company in a case alleging “human trafficking” discrimination claims.

In a ruling on April 26, 2016, in EEOC v. Global Horizons, Inc., Case No. 2:11-CV-03045 (E.D. Wash. Apr. 26, 2016), Judge Edward F. Shea of the U.S. District…
Continue Reading History Repeats Itself: The EEOC Scores Big Judgment Against Absent Party

gavel on white backgroundBy Christopher M. Cascino and Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.

In EEOC v. Northern Star Hospitality, Inc., No. 12-CV-214 (W.D. Wis.), a case we have blogged about previously here, Judge Barbara B. Crabb of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin imposed contempt sanctions on an employer for failure to cooperate in post-judgment discovery and granted the

…
Continue Reading Court Awards The EEOC Attorneys’ Fees And Contempt Fines In Post-Judgment Discovery Dispute

apple-full2.jpgBy Christopher DeGroff and Robb McFadden

Fresh on the heels of a full defense verdict in one of the EEOC’s highest profile sexual harassment cases of 2012-2013, the Commission was dealt another blow on April 19, 2013, when the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington dismissed a closely related retaliation case because of the lack of admissible…

Continue Reading Inadmissible Hearsay Rots Away Remaining EEOC Apple-Orchard Retaliation Claims

apple-full2.jpgBy Christopher DeGroff, Gerald L. Maatman, and Laura Maechtlen

After years of smash-mouth litigation, it was a clean sweep for a large agri-business employer this week in one of the EEOC’s highest profile cases of 2012-2013 – a full defense verdict on April 3, 2013 by a jury of seven men and two women in the U.S. District…

Continue Reading EEOC Apple-Orchard Case Chopped Down By Washington Jury

District of Nevada Seal.jpgBy Courtney Bohl and Laura J. Maechtlen

Recently, in EEOC v. Wedco, Inc., No. 3:12-CV-00523 (D. Nev. March 12, 1013), the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada considered whether the EEOC met is Title VII conciliation obligations when it ended conciliation negotiations after an employer, Wedco, Inc., refused to make a counter-offer to the EEOC’s settlement demand. The…

Continue Reading Court Holds Employer Is Responsible For Conciliation Failure Because It Refused To Make Counter-Offer To EEOC’s Baseless Monetary Demand

udco.bmpBy Christopher DeGroff and Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.

In yet another case regarding discovery of social media content, Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado recently sanctioned the EEOC for its efforts to evade discovery of social media content in EEOC v. The Original Honeybaked Ham, No 11-CV-2560 (D. Colo. Feb. 27…

Continue Reading District Court Sanctions The EEOC For Thwarting Discovery Of Social Media Content

ndil seal.gifBy Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Christopher DeGroff

As we blogged about here previously, in the EEOC’s first draft of its Strategic Enforcement Plan, the Commission telegraphed that it was increasingly focused on preventing, and when necessary, litigating workplace harassment and retaliation allegations. The EEOC’s warning was no bluff, for in 2012 the EEOC filed a significant amount of harassment and…

Continue Reading EEOC Kicks Off 2013 Settling Sex Harassment And Retaliation Lawsuits

300px-US_DC_AZ_svg.pngBy Christopher DeGroff and Julie Yap

Despite a number of setbacks in 2011 and 2012, it appears that the EEOC is charging into 2013 with much the same playbook it adopted in years past: aggressive litigation tactics, unreasonable demands for settlement, and an expectation that it can investigate and litigate under its own special set of rules.

Continue Reading New Year, But Old Tactics: EEOC Iced In Arizona For Mixed Bag Of Procedural And Substantive Failings