TRI-CITY (Washington) HERALD

October 6, 2009

Lawsuit alleges sexual harassment of Othello farmworker

OTHELLO -- A civil lawsuit filed Monday in federal court claims a farmworker was forced to leave her job at an Othello vineyard after a manager "repeatedly isolated and intimidated her" while making sexual advances.

The 31-year-old woman, who is being represented by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is seeking unspecified punitive damages for the vineyard manager's "malicious and reckless conduct" and unspecified damages for financial losses she incurred after leaving her job at La Pianta LLC, which does business as Frenchman Hills Vineyard in Othello.

Calls made to Frenchman Hills Vineyard on Monday were not returned.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Yakima, claims the woman's civil rights were violated. It does not name the vineyard manager.

William Tamayo, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission attorney based in San Francisco, said the alleged sexual harassment began in May 2008, shortly after the woman began working at the vineyard. He said it lasted three months and ended when the woman quit.

"(Sexual harassment) is not something that should be a condition of work," Tamayo said Monday, adding, "Some of the harassers prey on these women in desperate situations."