Jury Awards Plaintiff $2.17M Against SkyWest For Sex Discrimination

A federal jury recently awarded a plaintiff $2 million in punitive damages against SkyWest Airlines, a Utah-based airline, and $170,000 for emotional harm caused to a female parts clerk to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The verdict is the largest jury trial award ever obtained by the EEOC in the Northern District of Texas.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, multiple coworkers and at least one manager made extremely crude sexual comments to the female employee, including suggesting that she make money via prostitution. Male co-workers also made suggestions or requests that the female employee perform demeaning sex acts. They further made frequent jokes and remarks about rape and rape victims, including the statement that women who report rape do so for attention. The jury agreed that the female worker, herself a survivor of sexual assault, experienced physical illness and intense mental anguish as a result of her hostile work environment.

The female employee reported the sexual harassment to her supervisor, who did nothing to respond to her complaint. When the female employee reported the sexual harassment to the employee relations department, the employee relations manager did not conduct interviews with many employees identified as witnesses to and participants in the harassment or ask obvious follow-up questions. Due to this, the investigation did not uncover the full extent of the employee’s harassment. SkyWest promised to discipline coworkers who participated in the harassment, but the discipline they provided was superficial. SkyWest also planned to provide sexual harassment training, but after the female employee retired, they canceled the training. They only provided training 3 years later in response to the EEOC’s lawsuit.

This conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on sex and retaliation for reporting a hostile work environment. Ten Dallas jurors returned a unanimous verdict finding that SkyWest Airlines subjected their employee to a hostile work environment based on her sex and that the company knew or should have known of the ongoing harassment but failed to take prompt action. However, the jury did not find that the female employee was retaliated against when she was placed on indefinite administrative leave following her complaint.

Her jury award for compensatory and punitive damages was reduced to $300,000 due to statutory caps on Title VII lawsuits.

Hostile work environment lawsuits 

Sexual harassment claims are a type of hostile work environment lawsuit. Such claims arise out of allegations that the workplace is causing emotional distress to the individual worker and they are forced to choose between their job and their emotional health. Harassment lawsuits allege that the work environment is so hostile, that a reasonable person would find it intimidating, or abusive.

Talk to a Columbus Sexual Harassment Attorney Today 

Have you been subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace? If so, you may be able to file a lawsuit against your employer. Contact the Columbus, OH employment lawyers at Kohl & Cook Law Firm today to schedule an appointment and learn more about how we can help.

Source:

eeoc.gov/newsroom/jury-awards-217-million-against-skywest-airlines-sex-discrimination