San Antonio Wireless Store Subjected a Female Employee to Hostile Work Environment, Then Fired Her, Federal Agency Charges

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- A specialty retailer of wireless products, services and accessories violated federal law when its store manager sexually harassed a female employee and then retaliated against her when she objected to his conduct and sought to report it, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the company’s store manager engaged in sex discrimination against a female employee by subjecting her to severe or pervasive sexual harassment. The harassment included sexual remarks and text messages asking for explicit photographs and propositioning her for sex, the EEOC charged. After the woman objected to her supervisor’s sexual advances and attempted to report the conduct, the company fired her, the EEOC said.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace as well as retaliating against an employee for opposing harassment. The EEOC filed its lawsuit (EEOC v. Al Meghani Enterprise, Inc. d/b/a The Wireless Solutions, Case No.
5:21-cv-00760) in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process. The EEOC seeks monetary damages for the sales representative and injunctive relief to remedy and prevent sexual harassment and retaliation from recurring.

“Employees who believe they have been discriminated against or harassed have a right to raise those issues with their employer, and they have a right to do so without fear of losing their jobs or experiencing any form of retaliation,” said EEOC Trial Attorney Esha Rajendran.

EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Eduardo Juarez added, “A hostile work environment created by an employer’s store managers can be especially devastating to harassment victims. And under federal employment discrimination law, employers will be held responsible when they do not protect employees from a manager’s sexual harassment.”

The San Antonio Field Office is part of the EEOC’s Dallas District Office, which is responsible for processing charges of discrimination, administrative enforcement and the conduct of agency litigation in Texas and parts of New Mexico.

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.