Recently in Sexual Harassment / Workplace Harassment Category

Dallas firefighter Helen Watts and her Texas employment lawyer have finally reached a settlement agreement with the city of Dallas after filing a lawsuit against the city almost two years ago.

According to the Dallas Morning News, the female firefighter alleged that she was a victim of sexual harassment when working for the city's Fire-Rescue department and that she was repeatedly propositioned by a colleague. She also claims that she filed complaints with the department about the alleged harassment but that her complaints were ignored. The employee claims that she resigned from her position because of the harassment.

Five women who claim that they were sexually harassed while working at an Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurant in Bismarck, North Dakota are now filing a lawsuit with sexual harassment claims against the company, alleging that they were subjected to working in a sexually hostile environment.

KXnet.com reports that the U.S Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed the federal lawsuit against Minot-based Food Management Investors Inc. and Apple Core Enterprises Inc., who do business as Applebee's restaurant in Bismarck. The lawsuit seeks financial damages and asks the court to require Apple Core Enterprises and FMI to adopt a sexual harassment prevention policy.

A female employee of Superior Energy Services has filed a lawsuit against the company because she claims that she was a victim of sexual harassment and that her civil rights were violated while working with the company.

The Southeast Texas Record reports that the alleged sexual harassment victim, Mindy Hasler, filed a lawsuit against Superior Energy Services on June 11 in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. The woman has a Texas employment lawyer representing her in the case and hopes to recover damages from lost income, humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress, mental pain and suffering, fear and damage to her reputation, punitive damages and court costs.

Teresa Wright was told that she was fired from her position at Fisher Controls International LLC for falling asleep on the job, but the woman claims that this was not the real reason for her termination. Instead, Teresa Wright claims that it was her gender that caused her to be terminated, as stated in the Southeast Texas Record.

According to a harassment and discrimination complaint filed in the Eastern District of Texas, Teresa Wright was hired to work with Fisher Controls International in the assembly department in 2005. She was eventually assigned to work on receiving docks, but alleges that she was harassed throughout the time that she worked on the receiving docks. The woman claims that she was treated differently than male employees who were similarly situated.

Mindi Johnson claims that she was a victim of sexual harassment for months while working at a Wings to Go location. She claims that she quit her job because of the alleged harassment. While working at Wings To Go, she says that she became a subject of inappropriate and sexually explicit comments made by three co-employees, according to the Southeast Texas Record.

Those three employees were named in the sexual harassment lawsuit as Mike St. Julian, Kevin Lee, and Albert Francis. The lawsuit was filed in Jefferson County District Court against Mildred Enterprises, d/b/a (doing business as) Wings To Go. The complaint alleges that the men showed graphic pictures to Mindi Johnson and that they would unnecessarily graze at the woman's breasts and buttocks. On one occasion, Kevin Lee asked the woman to get on a counter top and take off her clothes.

Jane Draycott's Houston employment lawyer told KHOU News that his client his going back to work today. This is just one week after suing the City of Houston over allegations of sexual harassment. The lawyer says that things are "so far, so good" for Jane Draycott, who is still working as a Houston firefighter at Fire Station 54. However, many employees who experience sexual harassment in the workplace often have a difficult time going back to the work environment.

Jane Draycott was put on paid administrative leave last summer after she and other female firefighters in Houston found offensive and sexist graffiti scrawled on their station lockers. The woman tried to return to her job at Station 54 earlier this year, but left shortly after a captain read a letter during roll call that said she wasn't to be trusted.

A former employee of a Sonic Drive-In Restaurant in Georgia will be receiving a $70,000 settlement in a sex discrimination lawsuit, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The settlement, which was reached on Thursday, comes shortly after another sexual harassment case against the Sonic Drive-In franchise that was settled in Grapevine, Texas.

SDI Athens East LLC, which does business as a Sonic Drive-In Restaurant in Athens, Georgia, will be paying the settlement. In this case, an employment lawyer with the U.S Equal Opportunity Commission, alleged that a store manager at the Athens Sonic Drive-In subjected a female carhop to a barrage of sexually charged comments and repeated sexual overtures. Because of the unwanted sexual advances, the female employee felt that she had to resign from her position. The lawsuit was first filed in July 2008 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

Jane Draycott, a female Houston firefighter, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the Houston Fire Department on Monday in the Harris County state district court. The lawsuit listed numerous allegations of sexual harassment. She says that she endured years of sexual harassment and faced retaliation anytime she complained about it, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The female firefighter had been working with the fire department for more than eight years before she was put on leave in July. She took paid administrative leave in July after she was targeted with sexist graffiti that was sprayed in her quarters at the fire station. The woman was supposed to return to work earlier this year. ABC News reported that she was actually one of several female firefighters in Houston that experienced harassment through the offensive graffiti. Investigators have still not been able to find a suspect for the graffiti incident.

A former female employee of a Sonic Drive-In Restaurant in Grapevine claims that she was sexually harassed by her manager while working on the job at the age of 17 years of age. Erin Schwarzbach, now 21, was able to reach a settlement with Sonic restaurant last week. The company agreed to pay $31,000 to the young woman.

Yet the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the company still denies any wrongdoing or mistreatment of Erin Schwarzbach, and does not admit any liability. An attorney representing Sonic said that the reason for the settlement was to purely avoid litigation expenses.

A young woman from Galveston has filed a lawsuit against A&S Texas City Food Corporation, which does business as KFC; claiming that she was sexually harassed on a frequent basis by her assistant manager while working at the fast food restaurant.

The suit states that the plaintiff was hired to work at the Texas City KFC in March 2008, when she was just 16 years old. After just one week of employment, the Southeast Texas Record reports that the unnamed plaintiff experienced brutal groping. The alleged attacks and assaults escalated to the point in which the plaintiff claims that she was a victim of violent assault, battery, and an attempted rape on the A&S Texas City Food premises.

The plaintiff now has Houston employment lawyer Todd Slobin representing her with this case. The lawsuit was filed on March 15 in Galveston County District Court, where District Court Judge Lonnie Cox will be presiding over the case.