Healthcare Compliance Perspective – Retaliation Suit:
The Compliance Officer will confer with the Human Resource Director and review the healthcare provider’s policies and procedures regarding sexual harassment and non-retaliation to ensure that it is appropriate to meet the requirements of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and that it has been implemented. All staff will receive training regarding the provider’s policy of zero tolerance for sexual harassment, as well as for retaliation, as part of new employee orientation, annually and as needed. Staff will also be trained on the procedure for reporting any type of situation whether personally experienced or observed that is recognized as being unacceptable. An audit will be developed and implemented that evaluates the staff’s understanding of the use of the Compliance Hotline and who constitutes the chain of command to report a complaint of sex discrimination. Vendors must be made aware of the provider’s zero tolerance for harassment, discrimination and retaliation of both the provider’s and vendor’s staff while onsite at provider.
To settle a sexual harassment and retaliation suit filed by the EEOC, a Chicago-based staffing agency will pay $30,000. The federal agency’s lawsuit charged the staffing agency with violating an employee’s federal civil rights when it failed to respond adequately to the employee’s complaint about sexual harassment; and, instead, removed her from her work assignment and denied her any future work.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the female employee began her employment with the staffing agency on a temporary assignment and the first day working at the job location, she was sexually harassed by another agency employee who made intimidating comments and attempted to hug and kiss her. So, the woman made a harassment complaint to the agency. The agency responded to her complaint by removing her from her assignment and allowing the alleged harasser to continue working. After her complaint and despite her availability to work, the staffing agency never again assigned her to work on any other job locations.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination (including sexual harassment) as well as retaliation in employment. So, after unsuccessfully trying to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process with the staffing agency, the EEOC filed suit.
The EEOC’s Chicago district director made this comment about this case, “Employers are not responding lawfully to employee complaints of harassment if their response makes the complaining employee worse off, but that is exactly what happened here. After the woman complained about being harassed, the staffing agency removed her from her work assignment and never placed her on any other assignments. An employer is only creating more trouble for itself when it punishes an employee for reporting unlawful misconduct.”
The staffing agency will pay $30,000 in monetary relief to the employee as part of a consent decree settling the retaliation suit, signed by a U.S. District Judge on June 21, 2018. The two-year decree also provides additional nonmonetary relief intended to improve the workplace for the staffing agency’s employees. For example, the agency will train its staff on employment discrimination, including the employer’s obligations under Title VII.
The agency will also be required to monitor employee complaints of sexual harassment and report those complaints to the EEOC.
