Fort Lauderdale Resort Settles Sexual Harassment Suit
Fort Lauderdale, FL– A former supervisor for the Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort won a sexual harassment suit this week after she alleged a co-worker regularly propositioned her for sex.
On Wednesday, February 17th, vacation rental management company settled with the EEOC, negotiating to pay $125,000 to a former female employee who was a groundskeeper and worked in housekeeping at the company’s Fort Lauderdale resort.
The lawsuit alleged that a make manager for Vacation Resorts International repeatedly propositioned the former employee for sex. The lawsuit also claimed the manager once exposed his penis and grabbed her breasts, the Sun Sentinel reports.
The woman told managers at Vacation Resorts International (VRI) about the sexual harassment on several occasions, but they took no action to stop it.
The lawsuit also alleges that the woman was illegally fired from the resort.
The Sun Sentinel reports that VRI announced that they agreed to the settlement but did not admit any wrongdoing. The company said they are “committed to providing its workforce across the country with a fair and harassment-free environment,” the Sun Sentinel reports.
In addition to paying the settlement, VRI agreed to provide additional sexual harassment and retaliation training for all of its employees.
Unaddressed sexual harassment is toxic for the victim, and it’s toxic for the workplace as a whole. An employer should not ignore sexual harassment, but as this case shows, employers do ignore it. Ignoring sexual harassment can be costly for an employer because it causes a hostile work environment that eats away at employee morale and leads to high turnover. It is possible for the harassment to become worse as the behavior escalates or more employees are targeted. Unaddressed sexual harassment can also result in costly lawsuits.
These are very valid reasons why employers are obliged to investigate any allegations of sexual harassment and take action of it is occurring. Employers should also refrain from retaliating against an employee who reports sexual harassment by firing them, denying them benefits or refusing to give them requested days off. Instead of retaliating, an employer needs to act against the abusive employee.
If you are sexually harassed in your Florida workplace and your employer refuses to do anything about it, you need to contact the EEOC and file a formal complaint. USAttorneys also urges you to contact a sexual harassment lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to discuss whether you should file a formal complaint and seek damages for your emotional distress and loss of wages. You can count on our team of lawyers to provide you with a strong claim that gets the best results.
USAttorneys can connect victims with an experienced sexual harassment attorney in Florida to advise them and help them decide the best means to resolve their case. Let us connect you with an attorney, so you make an informed decision about your case. You may be able to recover the financial losses and emotional distress inflicted on you by an abusive co-worker or negligent employer.
