On Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it settled a case with a federal contractor, L&M Construction, involving allegations of a hostile work environment including sexual harassment and retaliation against the workers who reported the hostile behavior. This case was filed after the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) of the Department of Labor (USDOL) received complaints of sexual harassment from workers at L&M construction in Arlington, Virginia, including inappropriate touching, sexual gestures, comments and propositions experienced by a female employee in 2012. OFCCP conducted an investigation and discovered that the company fired nine employees for complaining about the hostile work environment created by the sexual harassment and fired five more workers to prevent them from being interviewed by OFCCP. All of the fired workers were Hispanic (7 men and 7 women). As a result of the settlement, L&M Construction will pay $112,573 in back wages to the terminated workers and will make job offers to them as positions become available. This settlement is not only critical in providing justice for the men and women who were victims of the hostile work environment, but also sends a message to federal contractors that sexual harassment and hostile work environments will not be permitted.
Today saw continued progress. With eighteen votes in favor and three opposed, the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed S. 1356, legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), out of the Committee. The bill included specific language that funding authorized by the Act for employment and training activities shall be used to develop strategies to increase women’s participation in high-wages, high-demand occupations in which women are currently underrepresented.
These two seemingly unrelated events represent significant strides for women seeking employment in jobs that are considered non-traditional for women, such as construction. Research conducted by Wider Opportunities for Women has found that significant gender-based occupational segregation contributes to economic insecurity for women across the lifespan. In other words, the top fifty jobs occupied by women pay significantly less than the top fifty jobs occupied by men, resulting in a substantial gap in wages every hour, every month and every year, earned by men and women. To successfully increase women’s earnings and increase their economic security, more women must have access to job training and counseling about nontraditional jobs, such as construction, which pay higher wages.
The bill reauthorizing WIA that was passed by the Senate HELP committee today contains language that will increase access to counseling and skills training for women seeking non-traditional jobs, such as construction. Construction careers in particular are high-paying and women hold less than 2 percent of construction jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. However, orienting and recruiting women to these jobs is only part of the solution. Too often, once in those jobs, women experience barriers to successful careers, often in the form of several sexual harassment. Enforcement of our federal anti-discrimination laws by the USDOL, like the case that resulted in the settlement with L&M Construction on Monday, will protect women from illegal sexual harassment so that they are able to continue their careers free from hostile work environments. And, while there is still much work to be done, this is why this is s a good week for women seeking non-traditional jobs.
This entry was posted on July 31, 2013 by Robin Runge, Esq. Visit the WOW blog to view the original post.
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