In June of 2005, the Detroit District Office of the EEOC filed suit in United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan against Spectrum Health Worth Home Care, a provider of in-home health care. The suit alleged that two female African-American employees were sexually and racially harassed, and sexually assaulted, by a patient they were assigned to care for. According to the EEOC, their employer violated Title VII when it failed to remedy or take steps to prevent this harassment.

Shortly after the case was filed, the two employees intervened as plaintiffs. The defendant moved for summary judgment as to the EEOC's claims, on the grounds that the EEOC had failed to make a good-faith effort to conciliate before filing suit. The court disagreed, and the motion was denied. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Spectrum Health Worth Home Care, Inc., No. 05-446, 2006 WL 519779 (W.D. Mich. Mar. 2, 2006).

The EEOC's suit was resolved in October of 2006 by a consent judgment which required the defendant to conduct anti-discrimination training of its employees and to report any future incidents of harassment or discrimination to the EEOC.

The consent decree did not resolve the private suit. After a series of discovery disputes, the defendant and the intervening plaintiffs eventually agreed on a settlement in June of 2007. The terms of this settlement were not disclosed.

Jason Chester - 05/21/2008


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