New York
After a legal battle lasting more than three years, a Sikh woman
here, who faced racial, religious and sexual harassment at her
workplace, has forced her employer to not only pay her compensation,
but also make changes in its employment policies.
"The settlement reached between Sukhbir Kaur and her employer,
National Wholesale Liquidators (NWL), sends a strong message to
private employers that discrimination against Sikhs is illegal and
will be harshly punished," non-profit organisation Sikh Coalition,
said in a statement Wednesday.
In her lawsuit filed with the help of Sikh Coalition, Sukhbir had
alleged that in 2004, a store manager of the NWL had harassed her
because she was a Sikh, a woman, and an Indian.
She alleged that the manager told her to remove her turban because
she "would appear sexier without it". Sukhbir also said she was
harassed by the manager, when she spurned his repeated advances.
Despite her complaints, NWL failed to take appropriate action to
address and correct the harassment. Instead, she was fired.
Sukhbir then filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, which conducted a investigation in 2005. The
investigation revealed that many South Asian workers at NWL's Long
Island City store in Queens, New York were being harassed.
Having failed to persuade the NWL to reach a voluntary settlement,
both the commission and Sikh Coalition finally filed a lawsuit
against it. The case was finally settled late last month with a
consent decree filed in the court.
Under this settlement, NWL agreed to pay compensation of $255,000 to
the nine victims of harassment, including Sukhbir. It also agreed to
make changes to its workplace and policies that would rid the
company of discrimination.
Prominent among these changes include adoption of an
anti-discrimination policy and complaint procedure approved by Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, workplace posters about
discrimination, and anti-discrimination training.
"Despite being subject to such degrading, discriminatory treatment,
Sukhbir Kaur fought back. Because of her courage, NWL is a better
workplace for all of its employees," said Harsimran Kaur, legal
director of Sikh Coalition.
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