In September 2000, the EEOC district office of Little Rock, Arkansas brought this suit against Global Material Services in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The complaint alleged a hostile work environment and the constructive discharge of several female employees in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The three plaintiff intervenors alleged that the defendant's managers disseminated home phone numbers that led to harassing phone calls from co-workers, requested sexual favors, sexually touched, and sexually joked with the aggrieved women.

In February of 2001, the parties settled and a consent decree was entered. In the consent decree, the parties agreed that the defendant and its agents would not discriminate or retaliate on the basis of sex; train all employees concerning the Title VII prohibitions on sex discrimination and retaliation; further train a select few employees on how to prevent sexual harassment; and that all reports of sexual harassment would be given to its human resources office in Memphis, Tennessee within 30 days of the report date. The decree also stated that the defendant would post the notice that the EEOC requires it to conspicuously post concerning Title VII. Individually, the plaintiff intervenors received amounts of $112,500, $93,750 and $93,750 in satisfaction of all damages and future claims. Lastly, the defendant was to provide a neutral reference letter for each of the aggrieved employees and make no reference to this litigation or complaints thereof in any personnel files. Attorney's fees were not awarded.

Jason Chester - 06/01/2007


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