On September 24, 1997, five female employees filed a U.S. district court lawsuit in the Southern District of New York under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, against airline consulting firm Simat, Helliesen & Eichner (SH&E) and Reed Elseveir, a publishing company affiliated with SH&E. The ...
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On September 24, 1997, five female employees filed a U.S. district court lawsuit in the Southern District of New York under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, against airline consulting firm Simat, Helliesen & Eichner (SH&E) and Reed Elseveir, a publishing company affiliated with SH&E. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, claimed that they were subjected to a sexually hostile work environment at SH&E's Manhattan headquarters. Specifically, four of the plaintiffs alleged that they were sexually harassed by SH&E's former president, while the fifth plaintiff claimed she was harassed by a male co-worker. One plaintiff claimed she was discharged in retaliation for reporting the harassment, and another was forced to quit because of the working conditions.
Also on September 24, 1997, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a similar complaint on behalf of the same plaintiffs in the Southern District of New York against SH&E and Reed (see EEOC v. Simat, Helliesen, & Eichner, Inc., EE-NY-0235 on this site). The two cases were consolidated for discovery purposes April 27, 1998, and were litigated almost entirely together. The EEOC also filed an additional, related complaint on September 20, 2000 (see EEOC v. Simat, Hellisen, & Eichner, Inc., EE-NY-0151 on this site). This third action was litigated separately.
On June 10, 2002, one of the named plaintiffs in this case reached a settlement with the defendants and was awarded $150,000. The remaining plaintiffs and the consolidated actions were not otherwise affected by this settlement agreement.
On February 18, 2003 , Judge Kimba M. Wood approved a consent decree in favor of the four remaining plaintiffs, who were awarded $2,300,000. Defendants were enjoined against discriminating in violation of Title VII and were required to implement a sexual harassment training program for managerial employees. Defendants were further required to actively seek qualified female applicants to fill their professional positions. The consent decree remained in effect for two years.
Jennifer Gitter - 04/23/2013
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