The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that Everdry Marketing and Management has paid $471,096 in damages, plus $86,581 in post-judgment interest, to 13 victims of sexual harassment.
The payout satisfies a judgment obtained by EEOC against Everdry in October 2006 following a four-week trial in Rochester, N.Y. (case # 01-CV-6329). The individual payouts range from about $24,000 to $56,000, including the interest, covering the time the women, had to wait to receive their jury awards.
Everdry was required to pay the substantial interest after the ultimate resolution of the case was delayed by an appeal the company filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit challenging various aspects of the jury’s verdict and other district court rulings. The Court of Appeals affirmed the jury’s verdict and award of damages.
Cleveland-based Everdry provides basement waterproofing services through various franchises. The case concerned a prolonged period of physical and verbal sexual harassment of mostly teenage telemarketers by male managers and co-workers at Everdry’s Rochester, N.Y., location.
The EEOC charged the harassment included repeated demands for sex, frequent groping, sexual jokes, and constant comments about the bodies of women employees. On one occasion, a male manager requested sex from a teenager with the promise of a raise if she consented.
“Many of the victims in this case were young and especially vulnerable,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien. “We are gratified that the appeals court has now paved the way for these harassment victims to finally receive the relief the jury awarded.”
The jury awards consist of compensatory damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages designed to punish and deter Everdry from engaging in further sexual harassment. The payout was made by Everdry’s corporate headquarters.
“The 13 women in this case endured vicious sexual harassment and then relived it again through their testimony in pre-trial depositions and the trial,” said EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Robert Rose. “The EEOC appreciates their courage and endurance in seeing this case all the way through. For them, justice was delayed, but ultimately not denied.”
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