In May 2001, the Seattle District Office of the EEOC brought this suit against Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., d/b/a W Seattle Hotel, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The defendant allegedly subjected the charging parties and other similarly situated individuals to a sexually hostile work environment consisting of both verbal and physical abuse. In addition, the defendant retaliated against several employees by further harassing them, resulting in the constructive discharge of some of them.

In October 2001, five of the charging parties intervened in the suit. In March 2002, the defendant made offers of judgment to some of the intervening parties. Two of the charging parties accepted the offers, and the court entered a judgment against the defendant in their favor for a total of $200,000 in early April. Later that month, the EEOC and the defendant settled their claims through a consent decree. The remaining parties seemed to have settled with the defendant at a later date, voluntarily dismissing their claims in late May 2002.

The two-year consent decree between the EEOC and the defendant contained non-discrimination and non-retaliation clauses and required the defendant to: obtain a sexual harassment consultant to conduct an audit of its sexual harassment policies and procedures, expunge the charging parties' personnel files of all references to the charges of discrimination, provide the charging parties with neutral employment references, develop a complaint procedure, provide annual Title VII training for all employees, report to the EEOC every six months, and pay $100,000 to be divided among three class members.

Jason Chester - 07/25/2007


compress summary