In September 2003, the EEOC's Dallas District Office (with participation from the Oklahoma Area Office) brought this suit against the Bank of Oklahoma alleging discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the complaint alleged that the defendant retaliated against the charging party, a male sales manager, by terminating him after he expressed his support for a charge of sexual harassment made by a former regional manager. The charging party intervened in the suit in December 2003. After several discovery disputes and a settlement conference, the plaintiff filed a motion for partial summary judgment in September 2004, followed by a motion for summary judgment by the defendant in October 2004. After the plaintiff's motion was partially granted and the defendant's motion was denied in January 2005, the parties settled through a consent decree a few months later in March.

The three-year decree, containing non-discrimination and non-retaliation clauses, required the defendant to post a notice of employees' rights and provide annual Title VII training for all its managers and supervisors. The defendant also agreed to provide the charging party with a neutral reference, expunge his personnel file, and pay him $262,500. The docket sheet does not show any further enforcement; the case was presumably closed in 2008.

Kevin Wilemon - 06/07/2007


compress summary