Dive Brief:
- Wireless World LLC, owner of Elite Wireless Group, Inc., will pay $107,916 to settle U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allegations that Elite Wireless allowed a sales manager in his 30s to sexually harass a teenage employee in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (EEOC v. Elite Wireless Group, Inc. et al).
- According to the 2023 complaint, the teen worker reported daily sexual harassment by her supervisor to a district sales manager, who responded by “laughing it off.” After the same supervisor allegedly assaulted the worker following a holiday party, she filed a police report and contacted Elite’s CEO, EEOC said. The company responded by transferring the teen worker to a different location 45 miles from her home, per the complaint. She was eventually fired for repeat absences and tardiness.
- Wireless World shut down in 2021 but agreed that should it reopen during the term of the consent decree, it will implement trainings and policies to ensure compliance with Title VII, according to EEOC.
Dive Insight:
EEOC has been especially focused on enforcing sexual harassment law with respect to teenage workers in recent years.
Law firm Seyfarth Shaw highlighted this trend in a May 2023 blog post, noting that the agency was keeping a particularly watchful eye on the sexual harassment of teens in the restaurant industry. The firm cited 8 sexual harassment lawsuits specific to teen restaurant workers filed since 2018.
“Young workers are particularly vulnerable to harassment and other forms of workplace discrimination because they have less work experience, are less likely to know when someone crosses a boundary, and may be afraid to report an older or more powerful harasser,” EEOC General Counsel Karla Gilbride explained in a media release about two more lawsuits the agency filed in September. One lawsuit involved a 16-year-old Applebee’s employee and the other involved a 19-year-old employee at a gymnastics training facility.
EEOC included teenage workers among the “vulnerable workers” it planned to protect in its 2024-2028 Strategic Enforcement Plan, alongside people with intellectual and mental health disabilities, older workers, LGBTQ+ workers and more. The report emphasized, as Gilbride did in the September press release, that such workers “may be unaware of their rights under equal employment opportunity laws, may be reluctant or unable to exercise their legally protected rights, and/or have historically been underserved by federal employment discrimination protections.”
EEOC is not the only agency cracking down on violations affecting teenage workers; the U.S. Department of Labor has similarly focused on charging employers for child labor law violations in recent years. The agency shifted to a per-violation penalty assessment for Fair Labor Standards Act violations about one year ago, and last month, it introduced a new form to help ease the child labor complaint process.
EEOC Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal previously told HR Dive that employers with teen workers should hold themselves to a higher standard, keeping in mind the job is likely the first or second for these workers, and they may not know what is normal for the work environment.
Anna Park, a district attorney for EEOC in Los Angeles, similarly told HR Dive employers should address issues head-on and adopt a proactive, “vigilant” approach.
