NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) — Housing provider Help USA Inc., has agreed to settle claims by the federal government that it allowed a supervisor to sexually harass female employees.
According to a March 28 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) news release, a Help USA supervisor at the company's Bronx location made sexual advances to female employees including offensive comments, leering at them and shouting verbal abuses at the female workers.
Complaints by the female employees allegedly resulted in no action by Help USA with one supervisor saying the other supervisor accused of sexual harassment was just "being playful."
The EEOC alleged in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that Help USA violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
"The EEOC is committed to eradicating sexual harassment in the workplace," EEOC New York regional attorney Jeffrey Burstein said in a statement. "We will continue to fight that kind of harmful misconduct everywhere we can."
Help USA will pay $150,000 in damages and provide training on anti-discrimination and report any future harassment allegations to the EEOC as part of the settlement.