Dive Temporary:
- A federal decide on March 4 upheld a $300,000 jury award for a SkyWest Airways elements clerk who allegedly endured a sexually hostile work setting.
- SkyWest had argued there was not ample proof for an inexpensive jury to award punitive damages or conclude that SkyWest didn’t make a good-faith effort to adjust to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The courtroom disagreed on each counts, discovering that there was such proof, and though there was an investigation, an inexpensive jury might discover it missing.
- The courtroom additionally denied SkyWest its bid for a brand new trial based mostly on two alleged prejudicial errors, discovering that neither allegation had benefit.
Dive Perception:
The courtroom’s choice follows a November jury verdict of $2.17 million in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee and the clerk. In accordance with the criticism, the employee endured sexual feedback, jokes, gestures, feedback “making mild of rape,” and options she might interact in intercourse work.
EEOC on the time stated the decision was “the biggest jury trial award ever obtained by the EEOC within the Northern District of Texas,” although the award — $2 million in punitive damages and $170,000 for emotional hurt — was diminished to $300,000 to adjust to Title VII’s statutory cap.
EEOC broadcast the case as a win in a Monday media launch.
“The sturdy injunctive reduction gained by way of this EEOC swimsuit protects present and future staff from experiencing the hostile work setting [the plaintiff] endured,” Alexa Lang, lead trial legal professional within the case and a member of EEOC’s Dallas district workplace, stated in an announcement. “The EEOC will proceed its struggle for sexual harassment victims.”
Whereas EEOC shifted some priorities following President Donald Trump’s inauguration — dropping pending gender identity-related lawsuits, denouncing earlier company steering and concentrating on particular legislation corporations for DEI practices, amongst different actions — it has remained targeted on sexual harassment and discrimination.
The company filed a lawsuit final month towards a Michigan Taco Bell franchisee, alleging it fostered a sexually hostile work setting, for instance, and secured a $1.6 million settlement with an Alabama-based safety options agency for allegedly designating sure jobs as “male solely.”
