EEOC Sexual Harassment Suit Against Texas Car Dealership Warns Other Employers To Manage Risks

December 20, 2023

A sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed December 20, 2023 by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) against Austin, Texas based South Austin Nissan warns auto dealerships and other employers to ensure their sexual harassment prevention, investigation and other practices can withstand EEOC scrutiny.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, three managers at South Austin Nissan engaged in egregious and persistent sexual harassment towards female employees. These managers regularly touched or attempted to touch female employees. They also made sexual comments about female employees, critiquing their physical appearance and referring to the employees’ personal relationships.

The complaint says managers encouraged female salespeople to “show more, sell more,” suggesting the women wear revealing clothing at work to succeed in sales opportunities. The sales managers created a culture in which discussing vulgar sexual encounters and watching sexual videos was fairly commonplace. Several female employees who suffered harassment were forced to leave their jobs because of the managers’ conduct.  

The complaint also charges employees, including a male manager, reported the harassers’ behavior to both the director of human resources and chief operating officer. However, no appropriate investigation, effective corrective action, or remedial action was taken in response to the complaints. Instead, the reporting employees were transferred to other dealerships within the holding group. One reporting manager was transferred, received a reduction in pay, and was subsequently terminated for standing up against harassment.

If true, the alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace as an form of sex discrimination as well as outlaws retaliation against employees for reporting or cooperating in investigations of sexual harassment.

For purposes of Title VIi, sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual or other verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature that implicitly or explicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with the individual’s work performance, or creates a hostile or intimidating work environment. 

In this complaint, the EEOC seeks back pay damages, compensatory and punitive damages, and injunctive remedies, including implementation of stronger oversight over investigations into sexual harassment and discrimination. 

Sexual harassment and other discrimination is widely perceived by many as widely tolerated within the still mostly male dominated auto industry. These perceptions are fueled in part by Auto News Project XX study, which revealed women in the automotive industry experienced a highdegree of perceived sexism. Among other things, the Project XX Report reported:

  • 84% of women had heard demeaning comments from a male colleague;
  • 65% of women said they received an “unwanted advance” by a male coworker, more than any other industry surveyed;
  • 63% of women claimed to be excluded from male-oriented company events;
  • Nearly 70% of women were told they were “too aggressive” and 50% were told they were “too quiet;”
  • More than 50% received comments on their appearance and were told to dress more feminine and display their breasts.

See also, e.g., How Do Bender Biases In The Automotive Industry Affect Experiences Of Females Employed Ar Dealerships.

In the face of these concerns, EEOC and private litigant Title VII suits, settlements and judgements against auto dealerships and other auto industry employers has become increasingly common.

EEOC announcement of the suit highlights the importance of timely and appropriate employer prevention, investigation and response to sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. “It is unacceptable for a manager to suggest to women that their bodies are their best contribution in the workplace,” said Shannon Black, trial attorney in the EEOC’s Dallas District Office. “When an employer fails to remedy sexual harassment and retaliates against workers who report, it perpetuates the harms suffered by the employees who simply seek a healthy work environment.”

Dallas EEOC Regional Attorney Robert Canino said, “Whether male or female, a co-worker or supervisor who attempts to elevate concerns about sexual harassment should not have to fear reprisal. Corrective measures can maintain or restore employee morale and confidence. Surely, dealership owners and managers want to see their vehicles driven off the lot, not their employees.”

For More Information

We hope this update is helpful. For more information about these or other health or other legal, management or public policy developments, please contact the author Cynthia Marcotte Stamer via e-mail or via telephone at (214) 452 -8297. 

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About the Author

Recognized by her peers as a Martindale-Hubble “AV-Preeminent” (Top 1%) and “Top Rated Lawyer” with special recognition LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® as “LEGAL LEADER™ Texas Top Rated Lawyer” in Health Care Law and Labor and Employment Law; as among the “Best Lawyers In Dallas” for her work in the fields of “Labor & Employment,” “Tax: ERISA & Employee Benefits,” “Health Care” and “Business and Commercial Law” by D Magazine, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a practicing attorney board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and management consultant, author, public policy advocate and lecturer widely known for 35 plus years of health industry and other management work, public policy leadership and advocacy, coaching, teachings, and publications.

A Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, Co-Chair of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) International Section Life Sciences and Health Committee and Vice-Chair Elect of its International Employment Law Committee, Chair-Elect of the ABA TIPS Section Medicine & Law Committee, Past Chair of the ABA Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Scribe for the ABA JCEB Annual Agency Meeting with HHS-OCR, past chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Group and current co-Chair of its Welfare Benefit Committee, and Chair of the ABA Intellectual Property Section Law Practice Management Committee, Ms. Stamer is most widely recognized for her decades of pragmatic, leading-edge work, scholarship and thought leadership on heath benefit and other healthcare and life science, managed care and insurance and other workforce and staffing, employee benefits, safety, contracting, quality assurance, compliance and risk management, and other legal, public policy and operational concerns in the healthcare and life sciences, employee benefits, managed care and insurance, technology and other related industries. She speaks and publishes extensively on these and other related compliance issues.

Ms. Stamer’s work throughout her career has focused heavily on working with health care and managed care, life sciences, health and other employee benefit plan, insurance and financial services and other public and private organizations and their technology, data, and other service providers and advisors domestically and internationally with legal and operational compliance and risk management, performance and workforce management, regulatory and public policy and other legal and operational concerns. Scribe for the ABA JCEB Annual Meeting with the HHS Office of Civil Rights, her experience includes extensive involvement throughout her career in advising health care and life sciences and other clients about preventing, investigating and defending EEOC, DOJ, OFCCP and other Civil Rights Act, Section 1557 and other HHS, HUD, banking, and other federal and state discrimination investigations, audits, lawsuits and other enforcement actions as well as advocacy before Congress and regulators regarding federal and state equal opportunity, equity and other laws. 

For more information about Ms. Stamer or her health industry and other experience and involvements, see www.cynthiastamer.com or contact Ms. Stamer via telephone at (214) 452-8297 or via e-mail here. 

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