Female Employee Forced to Resign Due To Repeated Harassment Federal Agency Charges
CHARLOTTE - Hunter Auto & Wrecker Service, Inc., a Charlotte, North Carolina headquartered corporation, violated federal law when it subjected a female employee to a sexually hostile work environment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.
According to the EEOC's suit, Sharon McInnis worked in a Hunter Auto & Wrecker Service office from February 2018 to August 2018. About March 2018, male employees made unwelcome sexual comments or engaged in sexually offensive conduct toward McInnis almost daily. When McInnis complained, management told her to ignore it. McInnis quit her job because Hunter Auto & Wrecker Service took no action to stop the harassment.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits employers from allowing sexual harassment to exist in the workplace. The EEOC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Charlotte Division (EEOC v. Hunter & Auto Wrecker Service, Inc., Civil Action No. 3:19-cv-00295) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.
The EEOC seeks back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages, as well as injunctive relief.
"Employers must take reasonable steps to stop employees' inappropriate sexual comments and behavior in the workplace," said Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney of EEOC's Charlotte District Office. "The EEOC will continue to prosecute cases where employees are harassed in violation of federal law, and the company fails to stop the harassment."
