‘Sexual harassment most common EEO complaint in NMI’

Last year alone, over 88,000 charges were filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission nationwide, with retaliation for complaining the most common complaint against employers, according to a top EEOC official.

In her presentation at yesterday’s meeting of the Society for Human Resource Management-NMI Chapter at the Pacific Island’s Club, Glory Gervacio-Saure, director of EEOC’s Honolulu Office, said that EEOC discrimination complaints range from color, national origin, religion, disability, age, and genetic information, to sex, race, and retaliation but it is these last three that have the most number of charges filed, with retaliation at the top. In the CNMI, sex was the top complaint against employers or supervisors.

“Of the national average, retaliation is the highest type of charge that we see with over 45 percent of the 88,000 charges that we were filed in 2014. In comparison, here in the CNMI, retaliation is a close second to sex discrimination complaints,” Gervacio-Saure said.

“There is a reason for that. Virtually all of EEOC sexual harassment charges, there is a retaliation complaint,” she added.

She also discussed the theories that the EEOC uses to analyze and prove discrimination, which includes disparate treatment, disparate impact harassment, religious accommodation, disability accommodation, and retaliation.

“Retaliation is perceived as an abuse of power,” Gervacio-Saure said.

She said an employer should not alter the work environment of the work victim, particularly those who file a complaint, because they didn’t do anything wrong.

According to Gervacio-Saure, full-time or part-time employees, temporary workers, job applicants, former employees, and even undocumented workers are covered by the law— “basically, if there is an employment relationship with that company.”

In places where there is a state or local fair employment practice agency, EEOC allows 300 days after the alleged discrimination for filing; however, it is different with the CNMI where there is no such local agency.

“The statute of limitation is 180 days. So [one should file a complaint within] 180 days or six months from the alleged discrimination,” Gervacio-Saure said.

As best practices, Gervacio-Saure told SHRM members that companies should implement EEOC policies, train managers and supervisors, promote an inclusive culture, foster an open communication, and establish neutral and objective criteria for employees.

The CNMI is under EEOC’s Honolulu Office, which can be contacted at 1-800-669-4000, toll-free.