The "customer" is always right: so goes the mantra in
the service industry—except now, not so much at a Fred
Meyer grocery store location in Oregon. In July 2011, the EEOC
dedicated its resources to further rein in sex harassment and sued
the grocery retailer in federal court because of the conduct of one
of the grocery store's customers. According to the EEOC's
complaint, the store failed to protect three female employees from
being groped by an elderly man who often "lurked near"
the employee time clock awaiting his unwitting victims.
This case was also brought as a class action on behalf of
similarly situated employees exposed to the octogenarian's
antics which the EEOC maintains created a sexually hostile work
environment. The EEOC alleges in this action that the offensive
customer was "coming to the store daily and sometimes several
times a day." As the women punched in or out on the time
clock, he would give them unwanted hugs and "grope them."
And when the
