When the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently sued a company for harassment, the case came to a strange and extraordinary ending.
The case involved an Iowa-based trucking company, CRST Van Expedited, Inc. A female driver with the company filed a complaint about the company’s permitting of sexual harassment by male drivers. The EEOC picked up the complaint and filed a suit against CRST in federal district court.
This time, the EEOC picked the wrong judge.
U.S. District Judge Linda Reade rejected the EEOC’s claims, threw out the charges and accused the EEOC lawyers of taking a “sue first, ask questions later” approach.
Further, the judge decided, the EEOC must pay the employer $4.5 million to cover legal fees and other costs associated with the case because the agency “acted unreasonably” and failed to conduct a “proper investigation.”
Cite: EEOC v. CRST Van Expedited, Inc.
