EEOC Ordered to Pay $4 Million
An Iowa judge has ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to pay more than $4 million in fees and costs incurred by a defendant in a sexual harassment lawsuit that was dismissed by the court.
In 2007, the EEOC filed a lawsuit alleging that CRST Van Expedited had subjected more than 200 female drivers to sexual harassment and had failed to take steps to remedy the alleged harassment.
Last year, Chief Judge Linda Reade of the Northern District of Iowa dismissed all of the EEOC’s claims. “The EEOC has presented the court with anecdotal evidence to show that some members of CRST’s management occasionally violated CRST’s anti-sexual harassment policy by failing to respond appropriately to sexual harassment in the workplace,” Judge Reade wrote. “However, the EEOC has not compiled the failings of CRST’s managers in any meaningful way to show that CRST has a pattern or practice of tolerating sexual harassment in its workplace.”
The EEOC’s argument, said Reade, “boils down to little more than bald assertions.” According to the judge, the EEOC’s litigation approach “was untenable: CRST faced a continuously moving target of allegedly aggrieved persons, the risk of never-ending discovery and indefinite continuance of trial.”
The law firms that represented the defendants reported that they billed more than 20,000 hours on the case and originally sought more than $7 million in fees and expenses.
“The EEOC believes the court’s decisions in the case were wrongfully decided and the agency will be appealing,” said EEOC Deputy General Counsel James Lee.
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