“Betty Gomez”* complained of gender-based harassment, including sexist remarks, creating a hostile environment and, a few days later, she was transferred to a new unit not suitable to her skill set. Less than two months after the transfer, Boeing laid her off, purportedly because she could not perform as well as other engineers in her new unit.
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The EEOC claimed Boeing managers harbored discriminatory and retaliatory motives when it transferred and terminated Gomez.
Manufacturing engineer “Rita Wright”* twice complained of sex-based harassment, and twice Boeing’s internal investigators substantiated her complaints. Nonetheless, the EEOC said the company allowed her harassers to influence her layoff evaluations and reduce her scores. As a result, Wright also received a layoff notice.
The EEOC’s investigation showed Boeing manipulated evaluation scores used in its work force reduction process to justify the terminations of Wright and Gomez.
In an earlier lawsuit, (EEOC v. The Boeing Company, CV-03-1210-PHX-PGR), the EEOC sought relief on behalf of “Milly Kline,”* a female mechanic at the Mesa helicopter facility.
Much of the harassment directed at Kline was designed to make it more difficult for her to perform her job, the EEOC said. Male co-workers took Klines’ tools and either broke them, hid them, or changed the adjustments before returning them. Other harassment was sexual in nature. Kline reported this conduct to Boeing’s Human Resources Department, but the company did nothing to address it. As a result, the harassment continued.
The suit also charged Boeing retaliated against Kline for complaining about gender-based harassment. After Kline reported her co-workers’ conduct to Boeing’s Human Resources Department, a manager warned several of Klines’ co-workers to be careful of what they said to her because the manager had them on a list.
The consent decrees reached between the parties provide for $380,000 in monetary relief for Gomez, Wright and Kline and an injunction prohibiting future discrimination and retaliation. Further, the EEOC obtained curative relief, such as training, to prevent Boeing from engaging in any further discrimination and retaliation.
“The right of an employee to oppose discrimination in the workplace is fundamental,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office. “Employees should be able to report discrimination without fearing their employers will make the situation worse by retaliating against them.”
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: [email protected] or 860-553-6604.
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