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The EEOC Is Helping
Teen Employees Fight Back |
Teenage employment is common at many workplaces. More working teenagers means an increase in potential risks for employers...especially the risk of illegal harassment and other illegal treatment.
If your organization employs teenagers, take extra care in complying with employee-protection laws.
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It's Not Just About Harassment |
The risks of managing and supervising teenage employees don't just involve illegal harassment. Some employers break the law by not paying young employees overtime, believing they are too uninformed or passive to complain. Some employers work young people longer hours in a day or a week than laws regulating teen work hours permit.
Pediatrics magazine published a study that found many teens are exposed to workplace hazards on a regular basis. The study, titled "Work-Related Hazards and Workplace Safety of U.S. Adolescents Employed in the Retail and Service Sectors," is based on survey responses from 928 teenage employees between the ages of 14 and 18.
It reported teens are exposed to multiple workplace hazards and work long hours during the school year. In fact, 37 percent of those under age 16 said they worked after 7 p.m. on a school night, which is a violation of federal law.
Other findings: A high percentage of teens age 17 and younger used dangerous equipment at work, such as slicers, dough mixers, box crushers, and paper balers...or served or sold alcohol in places where it is consumed. These are violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In addition, 52 percent of young male and 43 percent of young female employees said they engaged in one or more prohibited activities. | The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is seeing more harassment complaints filed by young people and is actively informing working teens about their rights. The agency has a Web site called "Youth at Work," which gives examples of illegal behavior and tells teens how to file complaints against employers.
The "Welcome" on the site states: "This was created for young people, and by young people, to explain the types of job discrimination that young workers may encounter and to suggest strategies you can use to help prevent such discrimination."
The site, located at http://www.youth.eeoc.gov/, explains to teenagers that they are protected against employment discrimination when it involves:
Unfair treatment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability.
Harassment by managers, co-workers, or others in the workplace because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability.
Denial of a reasonable workplace change that an employee needs because of his or her religious beliefs or disability.
Retaliation because an employee complains about job discrimination, or assists with a job discrimination investigation or lawsuit.
Three Cases Illustrate the Risks Facing Employers
1. Sexual harassment at a restaurant. The EEOC settled a lawsuit in 2009 against Ruby Tuesday, Inc. for $255,000 on behalf of five female teenage employees working at its Stroudsburg, Pa., restaurant. The case involved a general manager subjecting female employees to sexual harassment by making crude propositions , sexually explicit remarks about their appearance, and lewd comments in their presence about other women. The EEOC said that some of the women affected by this unlawful harassment were teenagers.
In addition to the monetary payments to the women who were harassed, the EEOC settlement by consent decree requires Ruby Tuesday to provide training of all managers and supervisors at the Stroudsburg site and other relief aimed at educating employees about sexual harassment. Ruby Tuesday denied liability in the consent decree.
"Sexual harassment is always unacceptable, but when some of the victims are vulnerable teenagers, it is especially unconscionable," said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru.
2. Managers and salesmen harass female teens at a basement waterproofing company. Another example of costly harassment is the jury award of $585,000 to 13 young women, mostly teenagers still in high school, in an EEOC lawsuit filed against Everdry Marketing and Management Inc. and Everdry Management Services Inc., The lawsuit charged the company, which waterproofs residential basements nationwide, with sexually harassing the young female employees at the firm's Rochester, NY, location.
The harassment took place over four years in the form of egregious acts of verbal and physical sexual conduct by the firm's managers and salesmen, according to the EEOC. The company failed to take necessary steps to stop the behavior, witnesses testified, despite complaints to local and national management. The EEOC asserted the work conditions were so intolerable that some female employees were forced to quit.
After a two-week trial ending in October 2006, the federal district court jury awarded $325,000 to the women to compensate them for lost wages and emotional pain and suffering. In addition, punitive damages against the company were assessed in the amount of $260,000.
3. Young men working at a movie theater chain are harassed by male boss. Carmike Cinemas, Inc. paid $765,000 in 2005 to resolve an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC that involved a group of 14 young men who were sexually harassed by their male supervisor. The harassment included unwelcome sexual touching, comments and advances at one of the company's theaters in Raleigh, NC, by the supervisor, who was a convicted sex offender.
Smart moves: Employers have a duty to inform and train managers, supervisors and team leaders about employee rights and the responsibilities leaders have to assure the rights are protected. Ask supervisors to read the information on the EEOC's Youth at Work Web site.
In addition, consider these tips from the EEOC to help promote voluntary compliance and prevent harassment and discrimination cases:
- Encourage open, positive and respectful interactions with young employees.
- Remember that awareness, through early education and communication, is the key to prevention.
- Establish a strong corporate policy for handling complaints.
- Provide alternate avenues to report complaints and identify appropriate staff to contact.
- Encourage young employees to come forward with concerns and protect staff members who report problems or otherwise participate in investigations from retaliation.
- Post company policies on discrimination and complaint processing in visible locations, such as near the time clock or break area, or include the information in young employees' first paychecks.
- Clearly communicate, update, and reinforce discrimination policies and procedures in a language and manner young staff members can understand.
- Provide early training to managers and employees, especially front-line supervisors.
- Consider hosting an information seminar for parents or guardians of teen employees at your organization.
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