Ohio Company to Pay $80K to Settle Harassment Suit

Mel-K Management Company will pay $80,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to resolve a federal harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced.

According to the lawsuit, Mel-K’s general manager at the Chagrin Falls, Ohio, location frequently called black employees names such as “n—-r”, “ho'” and “black b—-h,” and regularly treated African-American employees less favorably than white employees, such as allowing white employees more breaks than black ones.

The EEOC also charged that Mel-K subjected a lower-level manager, Sabrina McHenry, to both a racially and sexually hostile environment. When McHenry opposed the harassment, Mel-K unlawfully retaliated against her by transferring her to an undesirable work location culminating in her termination, the EEOC said.

EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Mel-K Management Company, Civil Action No. 1:14-cv-02155) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

In addition to the $44,500 in monetary relief to McHenry and $35,500 in monetary relief to other affected employees, the two-year consent decree settling the suit enjoins Mel-K from discriminating in race or sex discrimination and from engaging in unlawful retaliation in the future. Mel-K will implement and disseminate an anti-harassment policy and will provide anti-harassment training to all of its employees. Mel-K will also post a notice regarding the settlement.

The EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and parts of New Jersey and Ohio. The legal staff of the EEOC Philadelphia District Office also prosecutes discrimination cases arising from Washington, D.C. and parts of Virginia.

Source: EEOC

Topics Lawsuits Ohio