Saipan Grand Hotel sued for sex harassment

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a second federal discrimination lawsuit against Micro Pacific Development Inc., which operates the Saipan Grand Hotel. The current EEOC lawsuit alleges that an assistant chef I one of the hotel’s restaurants sexually harassed Julieta Torres and other female kitchen helpers.

According to the EEOC Honolulu Local Office investigation, Torres and other women faced harassment that included poking at them with kitchen utensils, groping of their private parts, requests for sexual favors, and sexual assault.

At the time, Torres was a nonresident worker from the Philippines, and her ability to work and stay on Saipan depended on keeping her job. Despite fears of retaliation, Torres complained to company supervisors. However, the company reportedly did not take any disciplinary action against the alleged harasser until after Torres informed the company that she would contact government authorities, including the EEOC.

After that, the hotel conducted what EEOC describes as an inadequate investigation of her complaint, and allegedly failed to take appropriate disciplinary action to prevent further harassment. Torres was forced to transfer to another department in order to avoid contact with the alleged harasser.

“In my seven years at the Commission, this is one of the most severe and horrible cases of sexual harassment I’ve encountered,” said Linda Ordonio-Dixon, the EEOC attorney who filed the case yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. “It’s simply heartbreaking that Ms. Torres would have to choose between supporting herself and her four children, and her right to a safe work environment.”

The Northern Mariana Islands, located the Western Pacific ocean, sets its own minimum wage and immigration laws, and its residents hold U.S. citizenship. However, majority of the CNMI’s population are nonresident workers, like Torres.

“Too often employers ignore complaints because they believe that nonresident workers will not press the issue,” said EEOC San Francisco District director Joan Ehrlich. “With this lawsuit, we want to notify employers that they will be held liable if they fail to adequately address harassment that means a prompt, competent investigation followed by appropriate action.”

EEOC regional attorney William R. Tamayo noted: “Service workers are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment. Very often they are from immigrant communities, unfamiliar with the laws protecting them, and fearful of the financial and social consequences for themselves and their families.”

“Clearly, the Saipan Grand Hotel has not learned its lesson about discrimination,” he said, referring to a previous EEOC lawsuit filed in 2000 alleging disability discrimination and retaliation.

Tamayo noted that the EEOC had also won two preliminary injunctions to prevent the hotel from terminating its employee who had filed EEOC charges. Otherwise, the nonresident worker would have faced deportation, interfering with EEOC’s investigation and intimidating any workers who might file discrimination complaints.

In 2001, the Saipan Grand agreed to post a notice reiterating its policy against discrimination and retaliation in the workplace as part of the settlement that resolved the lawsuit.

The EEOC enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which protects workers age 40 and older from discrimination based on age; the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits gender-based wage discrimination; the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits employment discrimination against people with disabilities in the federal sector; Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits employment discrimination against people with disabilities in the private sector and state and local governments; and sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

As part of the San Francisco District, EEOC’s Honolulu Local Office is responsible for investigating discrimination complaints against employers located in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Wake Island and Hawaii. For more information about the Commission, visit www.eeoc.gov.