Feds sue JW Marriott Las Vegas after sexual harassment claims

By Steve Green

Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010 | 4:39 p.m.

A federal agency on Thursday sued a Las Vegas hotel, charging that for years female employees have been subjected to physical and verbal sexual harassment by a male supervisor.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit in U.S. District Court for Nevada in Las Vegas against the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort, Spa & Golf.

The EEOC said it sued after two employees filed complaints with the EEOC saying they and other females were subjected to conduct since 2003 that was "sufficiently severe and pervasive to adversely affect the terms and conditions of their employment."

The EEOC said that before suing, it had tried to eliminate the unlawful employment practices alleged by trying to bring the hotel into compliance with the law voluntarily.

A request for comment on the suit was placed with the hotel.

The supervisor, who was not named in the complaint, placed the hands of female employees on his body, groped them, rubbed against them, placed his tongue into their ears and regularly made vulgar, offensive and graphic remarks to them, the lawsuit said.

The claimants "were offended by the official's sexual conduct and rebuffed his repeated sexual advances," the lawsuit says.

The women who filed the complaint with the EEOC earlier complained to management, but the JW Marriott "failed to take reasonable steps to prevent and correct the harassment" and "instead permitted the harassment to continue and worsen," the suit charges.

The official's conduct caused the women emotional distress and deprived them of equal employment opportunities in violation of federal law, the EEOC said in the lawsuit.

The suit seeks an injunction to stop the alleged harassment, an order that the hotel institute policies providing equal employment opportunities for women and unspecified financial damages for the women.