Officer Was Subjected to Sexual Harassment, Retaliation and Finally Constructive Discharge, Federal Agency Charged

INDIANAPOLIS - The North Liberty, Ind., Police Department will pay $12,000 and make significant revisions to its anti-harassment policy and procedures to resolve a sexual harassment and retaliation discrimination charge by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

The EEOC's investigation found reasonable cause to believe that the North Liberty Police Department subjected a police officer to a hostile work environment due to pervasive sexual harassment and that the officer was disciplined and forced to resign in retaliation for making protected complaints about the sexual harassment.

Such alleged conduct violates the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects people against sexual harassment. Title VII also protects employees from retaliation and reprisal from their employer if they make a sexual harassment complaint.

The conciliation agreement settling the discrimination charge provides $12,000 in monetary relief to the employee. The agreement establishes that the police department will revise its written policies and procedures prohibiting harassment on the basis of sex, as well as prohibiting retaliation for complaining about, reporting or otherwise opposing such harassment. The revised policies and procedures will be published in the employee handbook and will be given to all employees upon hire. The company will also provide all employees, including management, compliance training on sex discrimination and sexual harassment; workplace civility training; and bystander training on sex discrimination and sexual harassment.

"Sexual harassment continues to be an issue in the workforce, and around 70% of employees fail to complain about it due to fears, including fears of retaliation," said EEOC Indianapolis District Director Michelle Eisele. "Employers that review, update, and revise existing policies help their employees bring harassment issues to light so they can be resolved in the appropriate manner."