The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed the judgment on a jury verdict in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and a farm worker in a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against Harris Farms, one of the largest integrated farming operations in the Central San Joaquin Valley in California.
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Download NowThe appeal followed a trial where the jury found Harris Farms liable for sexual harassment, retaliation, and constructive termination. The woman was awarded more than $1,000,000, including attorney's fees for her private lawyer, on her federal and state law discrimination claims.
During a six-week trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Fresno, the woman, a Mexican immigrant who began picking crops for Harris Farms in the early 1980s, alleged that her supervisor raped her on several occasions and threatened her with a gun or a knife to ensure her compliance.
She also said that he also subjected her to repeated verbal sexual harassment and intimidation. In addition, she alleged she was subjected to sexually offensive and threatening gossip from co-workers, as well as retaliation. She said the conditions finally became so intolerable that she was forced to resign.
On January 21, 2005, the jury reached their verdict against Harris Farms and awarded the woman $53,000 in back pay, $91,000 for front pay (what she would have earned if she had continued working at her job) and $350,000 in compensatory damages for emotional pain and distress. The jury also awarded $500,000 in punitive damages against Harris Farms. (The amount of the punitive damages was later reduced to $300,000 because of limits set by federal discrimination law.)