Owner of Squaw Valley hotel faces harassment suit - San Francisco Chronicle
(09-29) 16:40 PDT Sacramento, Calif. (AP) --
A federal agency on Thursday sued the operator of a hotel at Squaw Valley resort for failing to protect a former employee who says she was sexually harassed by a co-worker.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit against Englewood, Colo.-based Destination Hotels & Resorts, which runs the Resort at Squaw Creek. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
Shira Garfinkel worked from December 2005 to July 2007 as a banquet server and bartender at the hotel, which is at the base of the well-known Lake Tahoe-area ski resort. According to the commission, she asked managers repeatedly for help after unwelcome advances from a co-worker. Only after he threatened her and broke into her home did the employer try to separate them.
The agency said Garfinkel was then demoted and moved to another location while the harasser kept his position.
"I kept begging the company to do something to protect me," Garfinkel said in a statement. "Instead of taking action against the harasser, I was the one who suffered consequences."
Destination Hotels did not immediately return a telephone call and email message seeking comment.
The agency is seeking monetary damages on behalf of Garfinkel for violating her civil rights, which prohibits sexual harassment as well as retaliation against an employee for reporting sexual harassment. The agency also seeking anti-discrimination training and other preventive steps.
The commission's San Francisco district director, Michael Baldonado, said for the first time last year the agency saw more retaliation charges than charges of racial discrimination.
30 Sep, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFU46SfWHDRQcpDgiZV-vhguOj_zA&url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/09/29/state/n160542D95.DTL
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