SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. EEOC — the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — says a sawmill in Shelton, Wash., has agreed to pay $900,000 to two female workers to settle a sexual harassment and sex discrimination lawsuit.
The EEOC’s investigation found upper management ignored widespread hostility to the women workers at Mason County Forest Products. Their supervisor made it clear he didn’t want women on his crew, made demeaning comments and intimidated them physically and verbally.
The EEOC says male employees at the mill subjected their female co-workers to lewd comments and gestures, displayed sex toys and pornography in a locker.
The sawmill ceased operation in 2010, but the settlement requires the parent company to do special training at any new mill it opens in the next three years.
