In November 2001, the San Jose Area Office of the EEOC brought this lawsuit against against Coastal Valley Management, a vineyard management organization, and three of its employees in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. We do not have a copy of the complaint; therefore, the exact allegations involved are unknown. However, it appears from the intervenor's complaint that the complainants allege that the defendant discriminated against the four charging parties, female employees, on the basis of sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and retaliated against certain complainants in retaliation to their complaints about the discrimination. The charging parties intervened in the lawsuit in February 2002. Following the successful settlement of the lawsuit through mediation in April 2002, the parties officially settled the case through a consent decree in May 2002.

The two-year decree, containing an agreement not to discriminate or retaliate, required the defendant to: develop, distribute and post notice of a new anti-discrimination policy, provide semi-annual anti-sexual harassment training to all employees, required defendant to institute policies promoting supervisor accountability, enjoined defendant from rehiring the three terminated co-defendants for at least two years, provide certain documentation regarding compliance with the decree, and pay $200,000 to be distributed among four individuals.

David Friedman - 10/22/2007


compress summary