EEOC v. Quality Art, LLC: EEOC Settles Suit against Arizona Company for $3.5 Million on Behalf of Low-Wage Immigrant Workers

IMMIGRANTS & EMPLOYMENT

Immigrants' Employment Rights and Remedies

EEOC V. QUALITY ART, LLC: EEOC SETTLES SUIT AGAINST ARIZONA COMPANY FOR $3.5 MILLION ON BEHALF OF LOW-WAGE IMMIGRANT WORKERS
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 15, No. 5, Aug. 31, 2001

On Aug. 8, 2001, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) made public a $3.5 million settlement of an employment discrimination lawsuit against Quality Art LLC, a defunct picture frame manufacturer based in Gilbert, Arizona. The suit alleged that 35 Latina workers, most of whom were Mexican and Guatemalan, were subjected to sexual harassment, national origin discrimination, and retaliation. The workers alleged that after they complained about the discrimination, the company reported some of them to the Immigration and Naturalization Service with the expectation that they would be arrested and deported.

The complaint, EEOC v. Quality Art, LLC, was filed in June 2000 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona and alleged numerous violations by Quality Art of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The plaintiffs claimed that female employees, specifically those of Mexican or Guatemalan national origin, were subjected to offensive and intrusive searches. They also claimed that the Latina workers were subjected to sexual harassment and other harassment on the basis of sex, such as being assigned to sex-segregated positions. Moreover, the complaint alleged that Mexican and Guatemalan employees received lower wages and benefits than comparably situated non-Mexican and non-Guatemalan employees and thus were discriminated against based on their national origin.

Finally, the workers also alleged that the employer engaged in retaliatory conduct by terminating some employees based upon their involvement in the protected activity of protesting or otherwise opposing Quality Art's discriminatory employment practices, forcing some workers to quit their jobs based on the hostile work environment, and threatening to report employees to the INS. Despite the fact that Quality Art subsequently did contact the INS in an attempt to have the employees who protested against it detained and deported, the INS did not act on the employer's tip because it was aware of the underlying employment discrimination claims.

Quality Art filed for bankruptcy in December 2000. Subsequently, the EEOC reached an agreement with the defendant's bankruptcy trustee in order to avoid more expenses while waiting for the bankruptcy proceedings to conclude. The settlement agreement was approved as a stipulated judgment by Judge Stephen M. McNamee.

EEOC v. Quality Art, LLC, Case No. CIV00-1171PHX SMM.