HHS Environmental, LLC (“HHS”), a company that provides janitorial and other services to hospitals throughout the country, agreed to pay $400k to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) on behalf of a group of HHS female housekeepers.
In the lawsuit, the EEOC alleged that a group of female housekeepers were subjected to repeated instances of sexual harassment by a male HHS employee, including inappropriate sexual comments about a worker’s breasts, frequent attempted kisses, and inappropriate touching and grabbing. The EEOC further alleged that the female employees reported the harassment multiple times, but even so, HHS failed to take any action for over a year. The EEOC also alleged that HHS then retaliated against the employees for reporting concerns by firing two of them and doubling the workload of a third until she quit.
The EEOC alleged that HHS’s failure to promptly address the concerns, as well as its retaliation against the workers for reporting concerns, violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In addition to paying $400k to settle the lawsuit, HHS agreed to a three-year consent decree in which it must review and revise its harassment policies, offer to reinstate affected female employees, give letters of apology to the female employees, train all employees and managers on sexual harassment and the law, and give the EEOC reports of training, policy revisions, and complaints.
What this means to you:
Employers must ensure their employees’ work environment is free from harassment, regardless of the location of that work environment and even when that work environment is at a client site. That means creating meaningful anti-harassment policies, training all employees on the policies, enforcing the policies, taking complaints seriously, and promptly and fairly investigating complaints.
To learn how our Managing Within the Law and other programs can help your organization prevent and address harassment, or to book a workshop, please call 800-458-2778 or send us an email.
Updated 06-09-2025
Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.
