On September 26, 2011, the EEOC filed a complaint in the Southern District of Mississippi on behalf of female employees who had worked for Venture, Inc. The EEOC asked the court for injunctive relief, pecuniary damages, punitive damages, and the commission's costs for the action, claiming that the defendant violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Specifically, the plaintiff claims that an employee of defendant sexually harassed female employees, created a hostile work environment, propositioned female employees for sex, and that defendant failed to respond to complaints, ultimately firing an employee who complained.

On November 22, 2013, a consent decree was entered. Defendant did not acknowledge any wrongdoing but agreed to pay $325,000 to settle the claim. The amount paid to each employee was to be determined by the EEOC. The consent agreement also required defendant to implement policies to avoid future harassment, including by including of non-harassment criteria on employee evaluations, creating an anonymous complaint system, training employees on sexual harassment and their rights, and creating a reporting system that will track claims of such harassment. Defendant was required to notify its employees of the requirement placed upon it within sixty days and to report all complaints of sexual harassment to the EEOC every 180 days for 30 months.

Parties were to bear their own costs.

An objection to the consent decree was filed December 30, 2013.

Chris MacColl - 02/24/2014


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