BURLINGTON, Colo. — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is asking potential victims to come forward after allegations of sexual assault and retaliation by managers on female employees at Colorado-based Midwest Farms between 2018 to 2023.
In a press release, the EEOC said Midwest Farms, an agribusiness company based in Burlington that operates several farms in rural Colorado, violated federal law by subjecting female employees to sexual harassment and retaliation. The EEOC filed a lawsuit in September.
“Sexual harassment remains a problem in the agricultural industry,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix District. “The EEOC will continue to enforce anti-discrimination laws on behalf of women farmworkers who are vulnerable to sexual harassment and retaliation in the workplace.”
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a male farm manager entered the women’s dressing room on at least three occasions without knocking while female employees were either undressed or undressing. Another male manager regularly subjected female employees to vulgar sexual language and sexual propositions.
The EEOC lawsuit claims that Midwest Farms failed to take preventative or corrective action when female employees complained, and at least one woman who could not tolerate the harassment was forced to resign. The EEOC also claims that at least one woman was discharged because she complained to management and human resources about sexual harassment.
Such conduct would violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on sex, including sexual harassment, and retaliation for complaining about it, the EEOC noted in the release.
The EEOC is seeking relief in the form of Midwest Farms implementing new policies and practices to help eradicate sexual harassment and retaliation, including training for all managers, supervisors and non-supervisory employees. The EEOC also is seeking compensation for the female employees for their monetary losses and emotional pain, suffering and inconvenience.
“Every employee has a right to a workplace free from sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation," said Amy Burkholder, director of the EEOC’s Denver Field Office. "The EEOC will continue to hold employers accountable to their obligations under federal law.”
The EEOC is asking people who were victims, or know of anyone who experienced offensive sexual conduct while working at Midwest Farms, including sexual comments, jokes or touching that were offensive, or were treated differently after complaining about offensive sexual conduct, to contact the EEOC. Victims may have the right to participate in the EEOC lawsuit.
The EEOC said it wants to speak with anyone who may have relevant information and worked at Midwest Farms at any time from 2018 to present.
People can contact EEOC by sending a message to Lauren.Duke@eeoc.gov or Anna.Sanchez@eeoc.gov or by texting 720-435-6898.
The Mexican Consulate in Denver also said in post on X, formerly Twitter, that people who worked at Midwest Farms during this period and are among the victims affected could qualify for immigration labor relief as a victim of the case.
For more information about the procedure to formalize participation in the case, the consulate asked people to go to the Protection Department of the Mexican Consulate in Denver by sending a message to proteccion@sre.gob.mx or calling the EEOC at 720-779 -3621 or 505-738-6726.
Midwest Farms is a privately owned Colorado limited liability company that specializes in raising hogs, the MWF website says. MWF's hog production business is located in Burlington, Colorado.
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