Albuquerque-AMG Specialty Hospital, LLC and Acadiana Management Group, LLC, operating AMG Specialty Hospital in Albuquerque, NM, will pay $82,481 and furnish other relief to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC charged that AMG violated federal law by subjecting a female director of case management, Moriah Smith, to a sexually hostile work environment, and that AMG’s failure to remedy the abuse ultimately forced her to leave the job. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the male chief clinical officer at AMG sexually harassed Smith by subjecting her to repeated sexual comments, sexually explicit texts to her work cellphone, and unwanted physical touching at work. In response to her complaint, AMG did not take timely appropriate action. The EEOC also charged that AMG’s failure to prevent or remedy the harassment created intolerable working conditions for Smith, which forced her to resign.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico (EEOC v. Albuquerque-AMG Specialty Hospital, LLC and Acadiana Management Group, LLC, Civil Action No.1:21-cv-00363) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The consent decree settling the suit, signed by Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales today, requires AMG to pay Smith $82,481 in back pay and compensatory damages. The decree also requires AMG to take several affirmative steps to prevent sexual harassment and sex-based discriminatory practices from happening in the future. These steps include training, policy and procedure changes, record keeping, reporting, and discipline of the appropriate people at AMG.