The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week filed a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against Caesars Entertainment Inc., alleging six former and current Caesars Palace kitchen workers were sexually assaulted and subjected to unwanted touching and vulgar language by their supervisors.
The company denies the claims.
The lawsuit alleges the women workers were sexually harassed and suffered sex-based harassment since 2000 by five supervisors and that the company's managers retaliated against the workers when they complained. The lawsuit, filed Thursday, charges the workers were terminated, demoted, disciplined, had their wages cut and suffered further harrassment.
The suit doesn't name the Caesars Palace supervisors but names the six plaintiffs. Sun policy prevents publication of the names of those claiming sexual assault. None of the six workers levying the charges could be reached for comment.
Santos Albarran, a spokesman of the EEOC's Los Angeles District Office, declined to name any of the supervisors.
Albarran said some of the women had been terminated.
He also said at least one of the supervisors still works at Caesars Palace but that the others have been "dismissed."
"According to them (Caesars Palace) they were dismissed for some infractions but they didn't come out (and say) it was because of these reasons," Albarran said.
In the lawsuit the women allege they were sexually harassed through forced sex, attempted sodomy, unwelcome touching, derogatory statements and obscene and vulgar language.
Albarran said there were three main violators and two additional ones and that all of them were supervisors although the lawsuit says the violators were both supervisors and co-workers. He couldn't say whether or not the six plaintiffs had filed police reports and representatives of Metro Police were unavailable to answer questions about the matter.
Caesars spokesman Robert Stewart said the company disputes the plaintiffs' claims.
"We strongly dispute the allegations in this lawsuit and we believe when we get to court these allegations will be shown to be false," Stewart said. "Caesars Entertainment has zero tolerance for any kind of sexual harassment or retaliation, and it is our policy and practice to deal with any incidents of this nature in the strongest possible manner."
D. Taylor, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union Local 226, said the union handled grievances on behalf of the six women related to disputes over promotions, but said the women never filed grievances with the union related to sexual harassment.
"We're familiar with those women; we're not familiar with the sexual harassment," Taylor said. "That was never brought to our attention. We dealt with other problems that they had."
Taylor declined to elaborate on the grievances the women did file.
The plaintiffs are seeking back pay, compensatory damages and benefits.
The lawsuit also asks Caesars for front pay, which would pay the women for future money they would have earned at their jobs until an agreed upon ending date.
The women also seek an injunction barring Caesars Entertainment from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, and from retaliating against employees who complain. They're also seeking a court order forcing the company to carry out policies and practices that provide equal employment opportunities for women and eliminate the effects of its alleged illegal employment practices.
This lawsuit is one of several the EEOC has filed on behalf of Nevada workers over the past year. The agency has stepped up its efforts by investigating complaints in person rather than over the phone, Albarran said.
A Las Vegas employer's lawyer, who asked not to be named because the lawyer represents clients against the EEOC, said the commission is biased against Nevada employers.
The lawyer said the Nevada Equal Rights Commission is much more objective in its investigations, but noted that cases that are investigated and closed by the NERC are often reopened by the EEOC when filed with that agency.
"My feeling with regard to the EEOC is that they are not objective," the lawyer said. "They come in with the predisposition that employees' rights are being discriminated against. It's incumbent on the employer to prove that they haven't been discriminated against."
Scott Olifant, a local employees' lawyer, took a contradictory position.
"I think their careful scrutiny of Nevada business is an excellent development for fair standards in employment," Olifant said. "It has been my experience that the EEOC does not investigate, much less file anything that even closely resembles a marginal claim."
He said the EEOC is less concerned about the magnitude of a complaint and is more concerned with whether or not a worker's rights have been violated.
Albarran defended the EEOC's conduct.
"We conduct a neutral investigation," Albarran said. "We believe that our investigators are trained well to be able to ascertain the facts. It's not true that we go in there with a biased attitude toward employers in Nevada."
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