Refusing to Employ Employees Complaining About Sexual Harassment Is Illegal

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Anchor Staffing, alleging that the company did not adequately respond to an employee’s complaints of sexual harassment and then refused to provide her with future work.  The EEOC claimed that its pre-lawsuit investigation showed that an employee at her first day of work at the Illinois Department of Human Services, to which she had been assigned by Anchor Staffing, was sexually harassed by a second employee of Anchor Staffing, who had also been assigned to the IDHS.  The female employee complained to Anchor Staffing, and, in response, Anchor Staffing removed her from her work assignment and then failed to find her other work assignments.  The EEOC's claims amount to the employee effectively being terminated by Anchor Staffing.  This alleged conduct is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Discriminating against employees on the basis of their sex, and it is illegal to retaliate against employees who complain about sex discrimination or sexual harassment.  See EEOC v. Anchor Staffing, Inc., No. 17-cv-7899 (N.D. Ill.).