Thursday, December 2, 2010

Entertainment Company Agrees to Settle in EEOC Discrimination Case

Business owners should keep in mind that their reputation will be tainted by any complaints brought forward by their employees.

To prevent this, there must be company policies regarding discrimination and compensation to guide workers and employers of how these issues should be dealt with.

A recent settlement involves a premier entertainment company in Richmond who faced charges filed by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2009 for discriminating two of their employees.

The Paper Moon’s ownership was sued by EEOC after it allegedly discriminated against two of its black employees and subjected them to retaliation each time they complained about the unfair practice.

Desmond Lawrence and Rock Georges were working as doormen at the Florida-based strip club when they were asked by the management to work the back door so that they can’t be seen by customers of the club.

According to the lawsuit, each time someone complains about the policy, the management either cuts their working hours or wrongfully terminates them.

In the settlement, the paper Moon had agreed to pay Lawrence and Georges $95,000 to compensate for their back pays and compensate the damages that resulted from the incident.

Aside from the monetary compensation, the owner of the company, Frazier Boyd, also agreed to release a written policy regarding anti-discrimination in the strip club.

This written policy to be issued by Boyd must be implemented not only in his strip club in Stuart, Florida but to his other place of businesses and clubs as well to guarantee to EEOC that unfair and discriminatory practices won’t happen again.

This latest settlement proves that complainants don’t have to go through lengthy court proceedings just so they can be compensated for their losses and to make sure that the company won’t engage in the unfair practice again.