Dive Brief:
- Paper manufacturer Sofidel America Corp. has agreed to pay $80,000 to settle U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that it tolerated a male worker’s harassment of a young female co-worker and later fired her.
- According to a September 2024 complaint filed by EEOC, after the 22-year-old worker complained about her co-worker’s harassing behavior — which included six months of alleged lewd comments, demands she perform sexual acts and an attempt to kiss her — Sofidel did not take disciplinary measures. One day after allegedly telling the company she obtained an emergency protective order against the worker, she was fired.
- In addition to paying the worker $80,000 in combined back pay and nonpecuniary compensatory damages, Sofidel will distribute to employees a clear written policy prohibiting sexual harassment; adopt and distribute to managers, HR leaders and other leaders a sexual harassment and retaliation plan; live-train all HR, managers and supervisors on such policies; and more, according to a three-year consent decree.
Dive Insight:
According to the complaint, the allegedly harassed worker reported her co-worker’s conduct to an HR manager and several other leaders in June 2023, six months after it began and the same day he approached her on the line and demanded she kiss him.
The HR manager allegedly asked her to return to the line and asked the harassing co-worker to leave the facility and stay home pending a three-day investigation. The co-worker remained on site in an intimidating manner for at least a while, however, and returned the next day for two hours until he was escorted away by the superintendent, according to the complaint.
When the worker again complained to the HR manager and said she was afraid for her safety, the HR manager was allegedly dismissive of her concerns.
The worker then went on a planned medical leave of absence and returned in July, before which she obtained the protective order. At a meeting upon her return, according to the complaint, she was told she and the co-worker would be assigned to new shifts. She disclosed her protective order at the meeting and was terminated without explanation the next day, per the complaint.
“Federal law protects workers who oppose sexual harassment and who participate in legal processes to make the harassment stop,” Andrea Baran, regional attorney for EEOC’s St. Louis district office, said in an agency release. “Employers must take prompt and effective action to stop and remedy sexual harassment and must never retaliate against workers who try to protect themselves or others from such misconduct.”
While HR is generally encouraged to conduct investigations after harassment complaints, best practices include interviewing both parties as well as witnesses and taking remedial action if it is likely misconduct has occurred. HR should also inform participants that retaliation violates the law, a legal associate wrote in an op-ed last year for HR Dive.
Sofidel did not respond to a request for comment by press time but did not admit liability as part of the consent decree.
