The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently filed its third sexual harassment case in less than a year against Oregon agricultural employers. The most recent suit charges that sexual harassment and retaliation occurred at Willamette Tree Wholesale, a retail nursery with 140 acres of farmland and a garden supply store in Molalla, Oregon, where Latina workers were allegedly sexually harassed and threatened, and at least one woman was repeatedly raped.
Regarding the case, EEOC Regional Attorney William R. Tamayo said, “From California, where the fields were called ‘field de calzon’ (or ‘field of panties’) because so many supervisors raped women there, to Florida, where female farm workers call them ‘The Green Motel,’ and throughout the country, we have found women working in agriculture are often particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment. We hope this third Oregon lawsuit will send notice to employers in this industry to stop predatory sexual behavior and abuses of supervisor power.”
The EEOC’s investigation of this case revealed that one worker at the nursery, a 38-year-old Latina, was allegedly taken to remote areas of the farm by the company foreman and raped repeatedly over several months. In addition to threatening her with termination and loss of needed income, the harasser physically coerced her with pruning shears and made threats against her life as well as against her family. Ultimately, when she refused to be sexually assaulted yet again, she was fired. Another Latina coworker, age 35, said she faced daily sexual innuendoes and propositions for sex as well as grabbing and touching. When she and her husband, who also worked there, reported sexual harassment by a crew leader, Willamette Tree allegedly failed to investigate or respond to their complaint. The EEOC also alleged that the couple and her brother were terminated in retaliation for having reported and opposed sexual harassment.
According to the EEOC, the nursery violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it allowed female employees to be severely sexually harassed and then retaliated against the women and male coworkers after they reported the harassment. EEOC District Director Michael Baldonado noted, “Our investigation found that sexual harassment at Willamette Tree was widespread, tolerated, expected, and a condition of employment. Instead of investigating reports of sexual harassment and taking action to stop or prevent it, these employers ignored repeated signs of harassment and blamed the victims. We hope this lawsuit will encourage workers to be able to step forward about discrimination without fear of losing their jobs.”
“All sexual harassment is unacceptable, but what happened here is unspeakable,” said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. “This shows how dangerous a situation can become when employers are hostile to workers’ rights and sexual harassment goes unchecked. There simply is no excuse for any employer tolerating this sort of worker abuse, and enough is enough. The EEOC is going to be focusing more and more on finding new and better ways to reach the most vulnerable of discrimination victims, like these farm workers, and to halt this kind of horrific mistreatment.”
The EEOC filed the suit (EEOC v. Willamette Tree Wholesale, Inc. (CV-09-690-PK)) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement out of court. The agency seeks monetary damages on behalf of the workers, training on antidiscrimination laws, posting of notices at the work site, and other injunctive relief.
Rampant misbehavior, particularly by supervisory staff, can be very costly to employers. In 2008, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a jury verdict of more than $1 million in favor of the EEOC and farm worker Olivia Tamayo (no relation to William Tamayo) in a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against Coalinga, California-based Harris Farms, one of the largest integrated farming operations in the Central San Joaquin Valley.
So glad some of these types of issues are being handled. I work in a male dominated business, it is ok to talk any way they want in degrading women, even as an hr manager I am unable to do anything since the only other woman here says this is how men behave. She is over 50 and has worked here almost 20 years so it is not always the men that encourage this type of behaviour.