Allegations of Official Misconduct
Justice Department Alleges County
Harasses Women
May-21-08
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice announced today the filing of
a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico
against Dońa Ana County New Mexico, alleging the county
discriminated against five female employees by subjecting them to sexual
harassment by a supervisor that resulted in a hostile work environment,
in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The complaint alleges that the supervisor subjected these women to
sexual harassment over the course of approximately 10 months by, among
other actions, referring to them and other women using gender-based
derogatory and offensive terms, asking them about or commenting on their
sexual lives and the lives of other women, and criticizing behaviors of
women that he did not criticize in men. The complaint further alleges
that the county failed or refused to take appropriate action to prevent
and correct the sexual harassment, including but not limited to failing
or refusing to respond to repeated complaints about the harassment.
“Every woman should be able to go to work and be treated with
dignity,” said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for
the Civil Rights Division. “Public employers should take prompt and
effective action to stop sexual harassment in the workplace and the
Department of Justice will vigorously pursue cases in which the employer
fails or refuses to do so.”
The continued enforcement of Title VII has been a priority of the
Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
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