Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation agreed to resolve a sexual harassment charge and a retaliation charge filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The EEOC found reasonable cause that the employer violated Title VII. Two employees at an Orlando, Florida restaurant faced a sexually-hostile work environment and that one was fired in retaliation after objecting to the harassment. Without filing a lawsuit, the parties reached a pre-litigation conciliation agreement. Under the resolution, KFC will pay a total of $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, $100,000 to each affected employee.

The company also agreed to implement annual training on sex discrimination for employees, human resources, and management, revise policies to explicitly prohibit sex discrimination, and report to the EEOC on any future complaints of sex discrimination for three years.

Source: https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/kentucky-fried-chicken-pay-200000-eeoc-sexual-harassment-and-retaliation-charge

Commentary

For employers, the above outcome highlights how mismanaged harassment complaints quickly become an expensive liability.

Two mistakes were made. First, allowing ongoing sexual harassment; second, responding to an internal complaint with retaliation instead of prompt, thorough, and objective investigation.

Title VII requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent and correct harassment and to protect employees who report concerns or participate in investigations. When a complainant is fired or otherwise punished, agencies and courts often view that as strong evidence of unlawful retaliation.

Steps employers can take to prevent retaliation include:

· Include an anti-retaliation provision in your equal employment policy and other policies prohibiting wrongdoing

· Provide training for managers on retaliation and the rights of employees reporting wrongdoing

· Provide more than one channel for employees to report wrongdoing, including an outside party or other mechanism

· Allow for anonymous reporting so long as the reporting mechanism makes it clear that fraudulent reports are not tolerated and that adequate information is needed to investigate the report

· Take all complaints of retaliation seriously and respond quickly

· Create an incident management team to oversee the management of incidents in your organization

· Consider involving outside counsel when establishing an incident reporting system and making decisions regarding discipline

· Have trained investigators ready to immediately investigate all claims of retaliation

· Make certain that any employee who makes a good faith report of wrongdoing is protected from retaliation for making the report

· Provide the same retaliation protection to witnesses of discrimination that you provide to those who experience or report discrimination

· Evaluate closely any decision that disciplines or terminates an employee who has made a legal claim, testified or witnesses wrongdoing, or is related to a complainant that has made claim

· When wrongdoing is discovered and is subject to some form of discipline, make certain that your discipline is consistent with past disciplinary actions taken for similar wrongdoing

· Encourage managers and supervisors to consult with human resources before taking an adverse employment action against any employee

· Document carefully all efforts to prevent retaliation and discrimination, including all investigations undertaken

· Consistently discipline employees, including managers, who retaliate against employees

The final takeaway is to treat every complaint as both a human concern and a high-priority compliance event to help prevent harassment and avoid retaliation complaints.

Additional Sources: https://preemptcorp.com/kentucky-fried-chicken-to-pay-200000-for-eeoc-sexual-harassment-and-retaliation-charge/ https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/kfc-pays-200-000-to-end-eeoc-harassment-charge-for-two-workers