Federal Agency Said Female Staff Endured Unwelcome Advances by Supervisor At Las Vegas Resort

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that Hotspur Resorts Nevada Ltd., a franchisee doing business as the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort, Spa & Golf, will pay $155,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit charging that the resort's Irish pub, J.C. Wooloughan's, subjected three female employees to sexual harassment.

The EEOC filed suit against Hotspur Resorts, a franchisee of JW Marriott, in 2011 in U.S. District Court in Nevada, charging that the female staffers were subjected to aggressive physical and verbal sexual harassment since at least 2003 by a male co-worker who later became their supervisor (EEOC v. Hotspur Resorts Nevada, Ltd. d/b/a JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort, Spa & Golf, Hotspur Resorts Nevada, Inc., Case No. 2:10-cv-02265).  The federal agency argued that the harassment persisted until the harasser's discharge in 2007, but that the company did not sufficiently prevent and correct the harassment.  Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

The EEOC and Hotspur Resorts, a franchisee of JW Marriott, ultimately entered into a three-year consent decree to settle the lawsuit.  The company agreed to revise its anti-harassment policy and complaint procedure to better address sexual harassment issues, deliver extensive annual training on the policy and procedures to all managers, and provide additional anti-harassment training to human resources staff.   The company also agreed to designate an equal employment opportunity monitor to assist the company in its implementation of the decree's terms.  The EEOC will monitor compliance and future complaints of sexual harassment throughout the decree's duration.

"To effectively deal with sexual harassment on the job, employers must enforce strong anti-harassment policies and train staff so they are able to identify and immediately correct the offending conduct," said Anna Park, regional attorney for the EEOC's Los Angeles District, which has litigation authority over Nevada.  "We commend the franchisee, Hotspur, for taking the necessary steps toward this end."

Olophius Perry, district director for the EEOC's Los Angeles District, which includes southern Nevada in its jurisdiction, added, "No worker should have to endure unwanted touching or verbal harassment while on the job.  Where employers fail to adequately remedy illegal harassment or discrimination, the EEOC is here to help."