The EEOC announced that it has filed its first two discrimination cases based on sexual orientation.
The agency’s Philadelphia District Office filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Scott Medical Health Center. A separate suit was also filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division, against Pallet Companies (doing business as IFCO Systems NA).
In the first case against Scott Medical, the agency charged that a gay male employee was subjected to harassment due to his sexual orientation. It was cited that the employee’s manager repeatedly referred to the employee using anti-gay slurs and made offensive comments about the employee’s sex life.
When the employee initially filed a complaint to the clinic director, the director responded that the manager was simply “doing his job” and refused to take any kind of action, according to the suit.
The employee eventually chose to quit rather than continue to work for a manager who disrespected him.
In the second filed case against IFCO, the EEOC charged that a supervisor harassed a lesbian employee. There were numerous comments made by this supervisor about this employee’s appearance including, “you would look good in a dress,” and “I want to turn you back into a woman,” the agency said.
This harassment extended far beyond comments as well. The supervisor would reportedly blow kisses at the employee and make suggestive gestures.
The female employee complained to management and even called the employee hotline but the company ended up firing her just a few days later.
While these are the first two lawsuits to be filed by the EEOC against private employers, human resource experts feel that this has been a long time coming. The EEOC has maintained its stance that sexual orientation bias is covered under Title VII. HR experts do point out though, that there hasn’t been a single federal appeals court that has ruled Title VII covers sexual orientation.
A ruling from last summer that covered only federal employees and contractors, which involved the EEOC, determined that sexual orientation discrimination is discrimination by sex.
Employment law experts and human resource professionals all agree that the outcomes of these cases will surely be interesting since a number of courts have ruled that sexual orientation is not covered under federal anti-discrimination law.
