Tres Hijas Berry Farms must pay $200,000 in EEOC sexual harassment lawsuit | US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Settlement of federal charges of sexual harassment and retaliation against farmworkers on raspberry farms

CAMARILLO, Calif. – Tres Hijas Berry Farms, LLC, will pay $200,000 and seek a preliminary injunction to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC filed the lawsuit on behalf of a group of farmworkers whose native language is Spanish.

The EEOC’s lawsuit alleges that Tres Hijas Berry Farms subjected both female and male workers in its Camarillo fields to a sexually charged, hostile work environment. The sexual harassment was perpetrated by the farm’s supervisor and included repeated, frequent and offensive remarks about sexual topics and unwanted physical touching. The lawsuit also alleges that even when comments were made within earshot of other supervisors and managers, no one took corrective action. The EEOC says Tres Hijas Berry Farms failed to monitor the workplace, failed to properly investigate and respond to complaints, prevented further complaints and retaliated against complainants.

This alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, as well as retaliation for complaints of discrimination. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Tres Hijas Berry Farms, LLC, Case No. 2:22-cv-01919-MWF-Ex) in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California after initially attempting to reach an out-of-court settlement through its voluntary mediation process.

In addition to financial compensation, the decree requires Tres Hijas Berry Farms to take the following interim measures: appoint an EEO monitor; review and revise policies and procedures to bring them into compliance with Title VII; ensure that all employees receive training regarding discrimination, harassment, and retaliation; and conduct audits to ensure that employees, including supervisors and managers, are held accountable regarding discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Tres Hijas will also implement a grievance process, including a toll-free complaint hotline and an online complaint process, and maintain records of complaints and their investigations and outcomes.

The judgment shall remain subject to the jurisdiction of the Court for a period of three years.

“Sexual harassment continues to be a problem in agriculture, where workers can be isolated from one another based on location or language,” said Anna Park, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Los Angeles District Office. “The EEOC will continue to prioritize these cases. Agriculture employers must begin to recognize these ongoing problems and make drastic changes to create safe and harassment-free workplaces for their employees.”

Christine Park-Gonzalez, Los Angeles County Supervisor, said, “One of our community partners, Lideres Campesinas, brought this situation to our attention. Without them, we may not have been able to provide such great assistance to the workers who were being harassed and retaliated against.”

According to the organization’s website www.liderescampesinas.org, the mission of Lideres Campesinas is to strengthen the leadership skills of rural women and young people so that they can act as agents of economic, social and political change and ensure their human rights.

For more information about sexual harassment discrimination, visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment. For more information about retaliation, visit https://www.eeoc.gov/retaliation.

Protecting vulnerable and underserved workers from workplace discrimination is a priority for the EEOC under its Strategic Enforcement Plan for Fiscal Years 2024–2028 https://www.eeoc.gov/strategic-enforcement-plan-fiscal-years-2024-2028.

The District of Los Angeles includes Central and Southern California, Southern Nevada, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Wake Island and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, with offices in Los Angeles, Fresno, Las Vegas, San Diego and Honolulu.

The EEOC prevents and corrects unlawful employment discrimination and promotes equal employment opportunity for all. For more information, visit www.eeoc.gov.