Woman was physically assaulted by a coworker — and her supervisors knew, feds say

An orchard company in Washington will pay a former worker more than $100,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit after she said the company failed to respond when a coworker assaulted her, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The former employee of Chief Orchards Administrative Services, an orchard business in Yakima, Washington, reported to her supervisors repeatedly that a picker at the orchard was harassing her during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, according to a Jan. 17 news release from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The coworker made regular comments “about her body and clothes, followed her to the bathroom and touched her without her permission,” the release says.

Before the start of the 2018 season, supervisors told her that he would not return, but they rehired him anyway, and “his harassment continued,” the release says.

“After Chief Orchards failed to respond to a physical assault that caused the female farmworker intense distress, she felt she had no choice but to quit out of concern for her own safety,” the release says.

A man who answered the phone at Chief Orchards Administrative Services and identified himself as the owner declined to comment when reached by McClatchy News.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against the company, which agreed to settle and pay the woman $127,500, the release says.

The company has since sold the orchard where the employee worked and laid off its other employees. If it rehires workers in the future, the company “must develop policies and procedures to recognize, prevent and correct sexual harassment and retaliation,” the release says.

According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers are required to investigate reports of sexual harassment in the workplace and take steps to prevent it, the release says.

“The (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) has made a priority of defending the civil rights of vulnerable workers, and immigrant women are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment,” Nancy Sienko, district director for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s San Francisco District, said in a statement. “We hope this settlement sends a clear message that agricultural employers are required by Title VII to take meaningful steps to prevent and stop the harassment of their female workers.”

Yakima is 145 miles southeast of Seattle.

This story was originally published January 18, 2023 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Woman was physically assaulted by a coworker — and her supervisors knew, feds say."