Wal-Mart to Pay $315K To Settle Two EEOC Cases For Sexual Harassment At Store In Central Florida

TAMPA – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the settlements of separate employment discrimination lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and R.T.G. Furniture Corp. for a combined total of $590,000 on behalf of five individuals who were subjected to egregious sexual and racial harassment at stores in Central Florida. In addition to the monetary relief, both employers will take significant steps to prevent and address any future reports of discrimination.

The lawsuits against both companies were filed under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and resolved by consent decrees in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa. Wal-Mart will pay $315,000 to settle the EEOC’s two suits (8:04-cv-01862 – SDM-MSS and 8:05-cv-313-JDW-MSS ) charging the Arkansas-based retail giant with subjecting three female employees to sexual harassment at the same Super Center store in Bradenton, Fla. The consent decree further requires that Wal-Mart comply with other non-monetary relief, such as posting its anti-discrimination policy; providing annual training for its managers regarding sexual harassment; and entering into a three-year monitoring period by the EEOC to ensure compliance with Title VII.

EEOC’s first lawsuit against Wal-Mart, filed on August 12, 2004, charged the company with allowing sexual harassment of two of its female associates by a male department manager to go unchecked, notwithstanding the employees’ complaints to management. The sexually hostile work environment at the store included the male manager exposing himself to the women; touching, grabbing and fondling the women; making sexually suggestive comments; requesting sex; and other lewd and unlawful conduct. Despite notice to Wal-Mart’s management, the harassment continued until one of the female employees was forced to quit her job in January of 2003. The manager who perpetrated the sexual harassment ultimately resigned his employment. Read more at eeoc.gov