Benefits September 30, 2005

Victim Fired Following Alleged Rape

September 30, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has alleged that a supervisor's sexual harassment of his female employee escalated to rape and, not only did the employer not take action, but the employee was eventually fired.
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The Associated Press reports that the supervisor worked for Acepex, a company contracted to do janitorial and maintenance work at the Denver Federal Center. The suit alleges that the supervisor made sexual advances, including inappropriate sexual touching and offensive sexual language that escalated to physical assault and two rapes. According to the AP, the victim was also threatened with harm to her and her family if she reported the assaults.

According to the Rocky Mountain News, an EEOC attorney said the supervisor was never charged by police for the assaults.

After an investigation, the Government Services Administration issued a finding against the supervisor and ordered his removal from the service contract, the AP reports. The day after their investigation ended, according to the EEOC, the employee was moved from the night shift to an early morning shift.

The Rocky Mountain News report says the woman told her employer she could not make the 7 a.m. start time because she drove her son to school. The company refused to change her start time to 7:30 a.m. and, after issuing several written warnings to her for being late, fired her.

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages and corrective action, according to the AP.

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