In announcing the settlement this week of a truly egregious case of workplace sexual assault, sexual harassment and retaliation, and intimidation by the management of an Oregon tree company toward a family of migrant farm workers, the EEOC stressed the vulnerability of immigrant workers to illegal workplace behavior.

Immigrants -- even undocumented workers -- do have rights under United States employment discrimination laws.

"This case reveals the extraordinary pressures these women faced to stay silent and submit to terrible violations out of fear for their own jobs and the livelihood of family members, as well as for their family's physical safety," said Michael Baldonado, director of the EEOC's San Francisco District.

In a legal settlement announced yesterday, Willamette Tree Wholesale, Inc. has agreed to pay four Latino farm workers $150,000 for the abuse, sexual harassment and retaliation they were subjected to. The settlement also requires the company to develop and institute strong anti-discrimination policies and to report to EEOC monitors for the next five years.

Woman farm worker repeatedly sexually assaulted by supervisor, ignored and fired when she complained

According to the lawsuit, two sisters, their parents and a number of other relatives worked for Willamette Tree in Molalla, Oregon. During that time, a supervisor took the older sister, a 40-year-old mother of five, to a remote area on the tree farm, threatened her with pruning shears, and raped her repeatedly over the course of several months.

A co-worker told management about the sexual assaults, but Willamette Tree ignored the situation. Ultimately, when the woman refused to go along with the supervisor's sexual demands any longer, she was fired.

Meanwhile, he same supervisor and a crew leader subjected the other sister to graphic sexual comments, unwanted sexual advances and groping. Her father reported the sexual harassment to management, but the company retaliated by firing the woman, her husband and another relative.

When the women sued, the company tried to have the rape victim's claims dismissed because she hadn't filed her EEOC complaint within the 300-day statute of limitations. The court ruled that the emotional distress, severe depression, panic attacks and PTSD caused by the multiple sexual assaults excused her missing the deadline.

"I'm not the same person nowadays. This experience left me destroyed inside," she says. She and the other workers were represented in the lawsuit by the Oregon Law Center's Project Against Workplace Sexual Assault of Indigenous Farmworkers.

"Our clients suffered an intolerable situation, when all they wanted was to earn a paycheck to support their families," said their lawyer.

"It took enormous courage for them to come forward, and when they did speak out to management, their complaint fell on deaf ears, and eventually cost them their jobs. With this settlement, we hope that their voices will encourage other farm workers to stand up for their right to work free of sexual harassment and fears of retaliation."

The EEOC highlighted that it has recently handled a profusion of predatory sexual harassment cases on behalf of vulnerable migrant workers. It cited six recent cases, four of which involved the forcible rape of Latina farm workers.

Source: EEOC press release, "Oregon Tree Farm Settles EEOC Lawsuit Over Sexual Harassment And Retaliation," April 21, 2011