Select Staffing to Pay $500,000 in EEOC Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
Staffing Agency Settles Class Claims It Permitted Sex Harassment and Retaliation of Female Farmworkers
FRESNO, CA (STL.News) Real Time Staffing Services, LLC, doing business as Select Staffing, will pay $500,000 and furnish injunctive relief to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit, the federal agency announced today. The EEOC brought the lawsuit on behalf of a class of female agricultural workers, including many temporary workers directly employed by Select Staffing.
The EEOC’s related suit against National Raisin recently settled with a $2,000,000 fund for class members and extensive injunctive remedies, bringing the total settlement fund to be distributed to class members to $2.5 million.
The EEOC lawsuit charged that female workers placed by Select Staffing to work at a National Raisin production facility were subjected to a sexually hostile work environment and retaliation. Despite onsite supervision from Select Staffing, widespread harassment of female workers by managers and employees alike went unaddressed by the staffing agency, the EEOC said. The harassment included frequent unwanted groping, sexually explicit comments, requests for sexual favors, and retaliatory termination following complaints of harassment. The lawsuit also charged that Select Staffing failed to take appropriate corrective measures after receiving complaints about the harassment, instead assuming the client National Raisin would respond, the EEOC charged.
Such alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, including sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining about discrimination. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Sunshine Raisin Corporation, d/b/a National Raisin and Real Time Staffing Services, LLC, d/b/a Select Staffing, Case No. 1:21-cv-01424-JLT-HBK) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.
The consent decree settling the suit, entered by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on July 24, 2024, in addition to the monetary relief of $500,000, prohibits future discrimination and retaliation and includes injunctive relief remedies that require Select Staffing to modify its employment practices, especially for temporary workers on assignment. This includes direct monitoring by the EEOC, training of temporary workers on their Title VII rights, training management and human resources representatives on how to prevent and correct harassment, and a requirement that Select Staffing track complaints and communicate with clients as harassment complaints arise to ensure appropriate corrective action is taken.
