Holiday Inn Sued For Sexual Harassment
The Holiday Inn is being sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") for sexual harassment. According to published accounts the Holiday Inn fired front desk clerk Beatriz Garcia for complaining about being sexually harassed by her boss. Firing her for reporting sexual harassment would be retaliation and is an additional charge that Holiday Inn is being charged with. According to the complaint, Garcia was subjected of unwelcome touching, sexual comments and threats in response to complaining about the sexual harassment from a supervisor.
Garcia was fired in retaliation for complaining about the harassment to Holiday Inn management and faced further retaliation for filing a complaint with the EEOC. This type of behavior is not tolerated and what really makes things bad is her former manager at the Holiday Inn called her new employer in an attempt to warn him about Garcia and obtain her new contact information. This type of activity will be the undoing of the case for Holiday Inn and I suspect they will settle rather than go to trial.
"I came to this country to work hard and achieve the American Dream. Soon after being promoted, I realized that the promotion came at a price I did not want to pay. I could not continue to work where I was being treated as a sexual object." Garcia said.
"By law, employers must protect their workers and take responsibility for the actions of their supervisors," said EEOC attorney William Tamayo.
In Illinois I am seeing more cases of sexual harassment in the hospitality industry. I think because more people are becoming aware of their rights through various forms of the media, they are no longer sitting by and taking the abuse. I am glad to see Ms. Garcia come forward and protect her rights. My Chicago office is handling more hospitality cases than ever before.
