Baccarat, which operates a retail store in Manhattan that sells luxury products made of crystal, violated federal law by tolerating race-based and disability-based harassment of an African American employee, the EEOC charged in a lawsuit announced today.
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint, Baccarat staff made derogatory and offensive comments on a near-daily basis about the employee’s race. Also, the two harassing co-workers re-peatedly made un¬founded, derogatory comments related to the employee’s dyslexia, including demeaning statements about his intellectual ability.
Initial complaints to the store’s general manager and human resources department resulted in Baccarat providing employees with an anti-discrimination training. But the harassment persisted un¬abated, the EEOC said. For at least two more years, the employee complained about the harassment to the general manager, but Baccarat never took effective remedial action. Because the employee could no longer tolerate the hostile work environment, he had no choice but to quit.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace discrimination (including harass¬ment) based on race, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits the same misconduct based on actual or perceived disability. Both laws require employers to take prompt action to investigate and stop harassment based on race or disability after they receive notice of it.
“The law requires employers that receive reports of harassment to investigate and take prompt corrective action to stop and remedy unlawful conduct in the workplace,” said Judy Keenan, the EEOC’s New York acting district director. “That includes
