by Patricia A. Schaeffer, Vice President-Regulatory Affairs
The EEOC has announced that Caesars Palace will pay $850,000 to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the EEOC.
In 2005, the EEOC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada (EEOC v. Caesars Entertainment, Inc., et al., 2:05-CV-0427-LRH-PAL) against Desert Palace, Inc. doing business as Caesars Palace, alleging that male supervisors would demand and/or force female workers to perform sex with them under threat of being fired. Women, predominantly monolingual Spanish speakers, were allegedly forced to have sex in makeshift sex rooms, and that supervisors performed other lewd acts on or in front of women, including unwanted sexual touching.
The EEOC also claimed that management failed to address the unlawful conduct even after the women complained about it, and were retaliated against in the form of demotions, loss of wages, further harassment, discipline or discharge.
The three-year consent decree requires Caesars Palace to:
- Pay $850,000 to the identified victims of the harassment and retaliation;
- Provide semi-annual reports to the EEOC regarding its employment practices for a three-year period, and
- Revise its employment policies and procedures to conform to its obligations under Title VII.
