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Press Release 01-30-2012

EEOC Sues Suffolk Laundry Services for Sexual Harassment of Female Laundry Workers

Company Ignored Years of Sexual Harassment by Manager, Agency Charged

NEW YORK – Suffolk Laundry Services, Inc.  created a sexually hostile work environment for female laundry workers over the  course of many years and then retaliated against these women when they  complained, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in  a federal lawsuit it filed today. The  Southampton, N.Y.-based commercial laundry service provides linens to various  establishments, including restaurants and hospitals on Long Island.

According  to EEOC's lawsuit, a manager physically and verbally sexually harassed multiple  female laundry workers at the facility.  The agency alleged that over the course of several years, the manager  regularly touched women on their buttocks, hips, backs, forcibly kissed them,  and made comments about their appearance and body parts. The agency also alleged that the manager subjected  the women to verbal sexual harassment by conditioning requests for time off or  for laundry machine repairs with demands that the women sit on his lap or kiss  him. The lawsuit further charged that  after discrimination charges were filed with the EEOC, Suffolk Laundry  continued to permit the manager to remain in his position of authority and  retaliated against women who complained by terminating them, reducing their  work hours and/or altering their work assignments.

Such  alleged conduct constitutes sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the  Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed  suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (12-CV-409)  after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its  conciliation process. The suit seeks to  recover compensatory damages for women who suffered sexual harassment while  employed for the Suffolk Laundry Services as well as obtain injunctive relief  to prevent future harassment and retaliation.  The EEOC will litigate the case in partnership with LatinoJustice PRLDEF,  the non-profit organization representing the seven women who filed  charges.

"The EEOC  stands ready to litigate sexual harassment cases when we believe that discrim­in­ation  has occurred," said EEOC General Counsel P. David Lopez. "And it is important that we work in  partnership with organizations such as LatinoJustice that aid our efforts to  ensure that the rights of victims of alleged discrimination are  vindicated."

Ami  Sanghvi, a trial attorney in the New York District Office, added, "It took a  great deal of courage for the women who filed charges to come forward and speak  up against a manager who had power over their livelihood. The EEOC is committed to ensuring that they  and other female workers need not feel as though they must silently suffer  sexual harassment."

The EEOC's New York District Office  has jurisdiction over New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,  Rhode Island, Vermont,  and portions of New Jersey.

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