Home health care firm settles same-sex harassment, retaliation suit
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A Chicago-based home health care provider will pay $302,500 in back pay and damages to three female employees to settle a lawsuit in which they claim they were subjected to same-sex harassment and then fired or demoted when they complained, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday.
The EEOC charged that manager Christine Qualls of Chicago-based Help at Home Inc., made sexual comments and propositions to Shannon Schroeter, Kari McConnell and Jaclyn Stone, who were employed in the company's Hillsboro, Mo., branch office. Ms. Qualls also openly engaged in sexual activities with her girlfriend in the office, the EEOC said.
After the three complained in an email to company CEO Ron Ford, Ms. Stone was demoted from an administrative position to an hourly home health care aide position, and Ms. McConnell and Ms. Schroeter were eventually terminated. No action as taken against Ms. Qualls, according to the EEOC, which had charged the firm with violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In addition to the $302,500 settlement, the firm agreed to take specific companywide actions designed to prevent future sexual harassment and retaliation, including providing training to managers and supervisors on sexual harassment and retaliation and on how to handle sexual harassment complaints.
“Sexual harassment is unacceptable and illegal whether it is engaged in by a supervisor of the opposite sex or the same sex,” said Barbara A. Seely, regional attorney of the EEOC's St. Louis District Office, in a statement. “The company further compounded its illegal conduct by discharging the complaining employees as retaliation. We believe the injunctive provisions of the consent decree will go a long way in educating Help at Home's workers and managers of their rights and responsibilities under the law.”
Mr. Ford said he had no comment.
