EEOC Sex Harassment Suit Names Farm Labor Contractor

Targeting sexual harassment in California’s agriculture industry, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued a Salinas Valley farm labor contractor, alleging that its supervisors routinely touched, groped and demanded sex from female employees.

The complaint against Fresh West Harvesting is the first such suit by the EEOC against an agricultural employer in California, according to William R. Tamayo, regional attorney for the agency’s San Francisco office.

Fresh West’s owner, Inocente Morales, who was named as a defendant in the suit, did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Tamayo said the firm has denied the charges.

Tamayo promised there will be more lawsuits against other contractors, noting that the agency has received a flood of harassment complaints from female farm workers, who often are poor immigrants, have limited English skills and endure deplorable working conditions.

Agency officials filed the class-action suit against Fresh West after receiving separate complaints from two women who harvested broccoli for the company in Monterey County.

The women told EEOC lawyers that their bosses made lewd comments and would grab and fondle them. One of the women was fired and the other had her workload reduced after they rejected their bosses’ advances, Tamayo said.

After investigating the complaints, EEOC officials uncovered “pervasive evidence of sexual harassment,” he said.