A global leader in the music print business is settling a former employee's sexual harassment claim alleging that female workers were subjected to unwanted touching, indecent exposure and tawdry comments at the company's facility in Winona, Minn.
Milwaukee-based Hal Leonard Publishing has agreed to distribute $150,000 among 10 employees as part of a class-action settlement, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Wednesday.
EEOC investigators determined that in 2006 and 2007 women were subjected to grabbing of breasts, exposure of genitalia by male co-workers and sex-based comments at the company's manufacturing and distribution center.
The harassment persisted despite many complaints to management, the agency said.
"An employer who has a sexual harassment policy on paper but fails to enforce it is placing itself at great risk," Julie Schmid, acting director of the EEOC's Minneapolis area office, said in a statement announcing the settlement.
"If employers would take seriously complaints from their employees and enforce their anti-harassment policies, we wouldn't have cases like this," Schmid added. "We are pleased that Hal Leonard worked cooperatively with us to resolve this charge without having to go through protracted litigation."
The woman who filed the complaint will receive a majority of the money. Schmid said the woman was forced to quit because of the harassment.
The rest of the money will go to other women who were abused and additional workers who saw or heard the harassment, Schmid said.
