Gator Strong, LLC and Gator Strong NC, LLC, which operate Gator Strong Services in Wilmington, North Carolina, agreed to pay $25,000 and provide other relief to settle a sexual harassment suit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency said on 2 November. According to the suit, the company’s former chief operating officer harassed the office manager and fired her after she refused to discuss a document found on her desk.
Why it matters
Two parts of the case reach beyond the dollar figure. The suit alleged that Gator Strong NC, LLC carries successor liability for the conduct, and it is Gator Strong NC that takes on the obligations in the two-year consent decree: revising and distributing its Title VII policies, training managers, supervisors and executives, and reporting to the EEOC. The training duty names executives alongside line managers.
“It applies equally to executives as it does to front line workers and supervisors,” said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District.
The $25,000 payment is small next to recent EEOC harassment resolutions covered here, such as the $620,000 NASG settlement in September. The non-cash terms are the same kind: policy, training and agency reporting over a fixed term.
What HR teams can take from it
For an HR team inheriting staff through an acquisition or a new operating entity, this case shows an EEOC suit can name the successor entity and bind it to the remedies. Due diligence on a deal should include open EEOC charges and complaints made against senior leaders, and the acquiring HR team should check that its harassment training covers the C-suite with the same course and records it uses for supervisors. Firing an employee soon after she objects is a pattern the EEOC has pursued in other recent suits, including one where three days separated the complaint and the dismissal.
Source: U.S. EEOC
