MID-AMERICAN SPECIALITIES SUED BY EEOC FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION

Telemarketing Company Punished Women for Complaining About Misconduct, Federal Agency Charges

MEMPHIS – A Germantown, Tenn.-based  telemarketing company violated federal law by subjecting a class of women  employees to sexual harassment and unlawful retalia­tion, the U.S. Equal  Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

According to the EEOC’s suit, Civil  Action No. 2:09-cv-02203, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District  of Tennessee at Memphis, Mid-American  Specialties, Inc. allowed its managers to subject sales and marketing  representatives Jennifer Looney, Karen Wingate, and a class of other women to  rampant sexual harassment. Further, the  EEOC said, the company failed to properly investigate complaints about this  misconduct, and after one female sales representative complained, she was forced  to quit. Two other female marketing  representatives were fired in retaliation for their complaints.

This alleged conduct violates Title  VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits harassment based on sex  and retaliation against those who complain about it. The EEOC filed
suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary  settlement. The lawsuit asks the court  to issue an injunction prohibiting such discrimination in the future, and to  order Mid-American to pay Looney,

Wingate, and females as a class any pay they lost as a  result of the discrimination, interest on the lost pay, compensatory damages  for emotional and psychological harm, and any other damages.

“In this case, the company ignored  the complaints of the women because they allegedly involved management  officials,” said Katharine Kores, the EEOC’s Memphis district director. “Then the company made the situation worse by  punishing the victims. Harassment and  retaliation are unlawful under federal law, and the EEOC takes a special  interest in incidents where the company retaliates against a victim of  harassment who complains about the discrimin­ation.”

Mid-America  Specialties, a telemarketing company selling advertising specialty items,  opened in September 1993 and is located in Germantown,  a suburb of Memphis. The company distributes promotional products  and office supplies to private as well as government offices nationwide and  employs approximately 110 people.

The EEOC enforces federal laws  prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is  available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.