California- A Riverside company has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former employee who claimed she was fired after complaining to her boss that an assistant manager was viewing pornography on company computers.
The lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Rosa Suarez, an employee at Sierra Aluminum Co. for six years who said that she witnessed a supervisor viewing pornography on computers in July and August of 2004 and was fired 11 days after alerting her boss in September, according to the commission’s lawyer Victor Viramontes. Suarez was the lead employee in the company’s finishing department, he said.
The company’s attorney could not be reached for comment Friday morning.
As part of the settlement, the company has agreed to retain an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission consultant and have supervisors participate in sexual harassment training. Each side has agreed to pay their own attorney’s fees.
Both sides have agreed to the settlement. The U.S. District Court of California still needs to sign off on it.
