A potato wholesaler charged with permitting a supervisor to repeatedly harass 10 female hourly employees over a six-year period has reached a $255,000 settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency said.

The EEOC said last week a warehouse supervisor for Monte Vista, Colo.-based The Spud Seller Inc. allegedly made sexual comments, groped and touched the women, exposed himself and solicited sexual acts over a period from June 2004 through 2010. The first complaint about his conduct was brought to management in June 2004, and he was fired by Spud Seller in 2012, according to the EEOC.

The EEOC said sexual harassment and an employer's failure to stop sexual harassment about which it knew, or should have known, violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In addition to the $255,000, the three-year decree settling the suit enjoins Spud Seller from engaging in sexual harassment on the basis of sex, among other measures.

“Employers have a responsibility to maintain an environment free of sexual harassment for all workers,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Mary Jo O'Neill, in a statement. “Here, a member of management was the harasser and some of the victims were immigrants. These immigrant workers are especially vulnerable to exploitation, and we will continue to vindicate their civil rights.”

Nancy Sienko, field director of the EEOC’s Denver Field Office, said: “We are very interested in attacking illegal discrimination in sparsely populated and underserved areas like the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado. We believe it is important to let residents of areas like this know that we are here for them as a resource, and we encourage them to stand up and report discrimination when they believe it is happening to them. The EEOC considers protecting immigrant, migrant and other vulnerable workers from discrimination and harassment a priority under the Strategic Enforcement Plan.”

The company’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.