The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a right to sue letter to a former Yale student who claims she was sexually harassed by a renowned professor who subsequently punished her professionally for resisting his advances. Despite complaints other students made at other universities against the Yale ethics professor, a Yale University panel cleared him in the plaintiff’s case in December, 2010. Yale offered to pay the plaintiff $2,000 for work she had performed over the summer after the professor allegedly misrepresented the terms of her employment; however, Yale told her she would only be paid if she signed an agreement stating that she would not file a lawsuit or speak publicly about her sexual harassment complaint against him.
In 2011, in response to an unrelated complaint, the Education Department began an investigation into possible Title IX violations Yale made because of the way the university handled sexual assault and harassment complaints. After the Title IX investigation was opened, the plaintiff also filed a complaint with the Education Department in 2011 and was told that her claim would be transferred to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to be addressed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In 2012 the plaintiff was informed by the EEOC that a new agent was reviewing her case, but she never heard from them again after that. Last month a reporter contacted the EEOC for an update in the case. She was informed that the EEOC was closing the case due to the amount of time that had lapsed; however, the EEOC did issue the plaintiff a right to sue letter that must be obtained in order to file a discrimination lawsuit against an institution for misconduct.
If you or a loved one has been a victim of discrimination or sexual harassment in the workplace, call Philadelphia EEOC lawyers at The Gold Law Firm P.C. at 215-569-1999 or contact us online for a free case evaluation. Our offices are conveniently located in Center City, and we represent clients throughout South Jersey, Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia area in employment disputes and discrimination claims.
