Articles Posted in Sexual Harassment

Carrols Corporation – the world’s largest Burger King franchisee, with almost 600 restaurants in South Carolina and nationwide – has agreed to pay $2.5 million for sexual harassment and retaliation against employees.

The settlement ends a discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The lawsuit alleged workplace sexual discrimination against 89 female employees, many of them teenagers, at Burger Kings around the country.

This is from the EEOC announcement of the settlement:

A former Police Department communications supervisor from Zachary has been awarded $45,000 from a federal court jury in her sexual harassment lawsuit against the former Assistant Police Chief.

According to her testimony, the assistant chief asked her to have a relationship with him in December 2005 and again in July 2006. After her second refusal, the man began complaining about her job performance even though he recommended her for a permanent position prior to the second incident.

After both the communications supervisor and the assistant police chief were asked to take a polygraph test, termination proceedings were initiated against the assistant chief.

A recent Arizona lawsuit ruled in favor of a woman who claimed that she was sexually molested by an endocrinologist during an examination. This kind of medical negligence lawsuit is unfortunately not pursued often enough by patients who experience molestation at a medical care provider’s hand.

Inappropriate contact by a doctor is not only a violation of the personal trust you place in a medical care provider. It’s harassment, it’s against the law, and it can constitute medical negligence. Unfortunately, victims often feel scared, pressured, and guilty and can be encouraged not to disclose their abuse to others. This leads to underreporting of sexual abuse by doctors and a failure to pursue prosecution and litigation.

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A South Carolina woman settled her lawsuit with the Babcock Center, a home for the mentally ill, for $250,000 according to an Associated Press Report published Tuesday, October 2nd. The suit alleged that Brenda Bryant’s daughter, a 21-year-old mentally retarded woman, was raped by at least one man after she left a Babcock home with them in 1995.

Brenda Bryant says she settled with the Babcock Center, but that money can not undo what’s already been done. The Babcock Center meanwhile has maintained that the sex was consensual. Babcock Center executive director Judy Johnson says the company admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement. She says she thought the company’s insurance provider settled based on financial reasons.

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For hostess Eftehea Leontaritis, a hosting position at Malibu hotspot restaurant Taverna Tony should have been business at usual. Unfortunately, the job turned ugly when the restaurant’s owner began harassing and assaulting Leontaritis – and it resulted in a lawsuit with an even uglier verdict in favor of the plaintiff.

Not only did Tony Koursais, the restaurant’s owner, make lewd advances to Leontaritis, but he assaulted her in March 2003 when he forced her to watch him masturbate. Leontaritis fled the scene after quitting, but not before the harassment reached its seedy conclusion. The incident was the culmination of nearly nine months of inappropriate advances, intimidation and harassment, and the hostess had already voluntarily cut precious hours worked in order to avoid her boss.

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A federal court jury awarded a female professor $500,000 in damages after she charged acts of sexual harassment were made by the president Voorhees College in 2002 and 2003. The jury concluded that college officials “acted with malice or with reckless indifference” toward her. A final judgment is expected soon.

Dr. Moreen B. Joseph brought the civil lawsuit against the college and its president Lee E. Monroe and Voorhees College, contending that Monroe had sexually harassed her and the college failed to react. Dr. Joseph stated in the lawsuit that for nearly two years underwent “lewd, gross and suggestive language of a sexual nature and unwanted touching” by Mr. Monroe, president of the South Carolina college. She contended that the constant rejection of advances by the president led to the “loss of her position” and income. The college maintains that Dr. Joseph did not follow its policies for reporting sexual misconduct and furthermore was not terminated but “voluntarily quit.” The college also maintains that Mr. Monroe did not take part in sexual harassment.

At the end of the four day trial, the jury found for the plaintiff on all but one of the charges and further concluded that the president had sexually harassed Dr. Joseph and provided a hostile environment in which to work. The jury also ruled that representatives of Voorhees College “acted with malice or reckless indifference to her federally protected rights..

Don Fowler, Voorhees College Board of Trustees member and spokesperson, comment on the ruling, “The proceeding … was disappointing but there are additional steps before the final determination is made in respect to this proceeding. We continue to have faith and confidence in Dr. Monroe, and I will not have any other comment until the court has concluded all of the steps in this process..

Dr. Joseph was represented by Herbert W. Louthian, also commented on the ruling, “I feel that the jury was very conscientious in their approach to the case. They were attentive, they were diligent, they did their duty and, in so doing, they have helped us protect the lives of women in the workplace.”

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