Olympia, Wash.-based Koelsch Senior Communities, as well as The Hampton at Salmon Creek, one of the memory care facilities operated by Koelsch, will pay $450,000 and adopt anti-discrimination policies and training to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a female employee faced unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature from her female supervisor at The Hampton at Salmon Creek facility. This included sexually charged comments, unwanted touching, repeated requests for foot rubs and discussions about intimate details about the supervisor’s marriage, dating and sexual practices. When the employee reported the unwelcome behavior to upper management, Koelsch failed to investigate properly and quickly sided with the supervisor, which emboldened the woman to continue harassing her subordinate. Workplace sexual harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process, the EEOC filed its lawsuit against both Koelsch and The Hampton facility. The employee intervened in the EEOC’s lawsuit and asserted additional claims of retaliation and termination. Under the three-year consent decree settling the suit, the defendants will pay $450,000 in damages to the employee and train high-level managers employed by both entities, as well as employees of The Hampton facility, to prevent such misconduct in the future.
