Twelve Staffers Sue Minneapolis PL
over Hostile Workplace Environment
The dozen female Minneapolis Public Library workers who filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May 2000, claiming that porn-surfing patrons made the working atmosphere hostile and offensive, sued the library in U.S. District Court March 24. The lawsuit seeks damages of at least $400,000 each, plus a better working environment for staff.
One of the staff members, Wendy Adamson, said in the March 25 Minneapolis Star Tribune that the group would still consider mediation of the dispute. “It’s been three years,” she said. “We would have sat down with the library at any time during those years, and they wouldn’t do it.”
One complication is that former Director Mary Lawson, whom the staffers claim was unwilling to impose sufficient controls on computer use, has been replaced by Kit Hadley. In addition, library policies were updated in January 2001 to include strict time limits, the presentation of proper identification to use online workstations, and the prohibition of “any activity that is deliberately offensive or creates an intimidating or hostile environment.”
The EEOC referred the original complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice, which after a 19-month review decided in February not to file suit on the workers’ behalf.
Posted March 31, 2003.
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