EEOC Sues FedEx for Sexual Harassment and Sex Discrimination

NEW ORLEANS - Federal Express Corporation (FedEx) violated federal law by subjecting a female administrator at the company's St. Rose, Louisiana location to sexual harassment and firing her when she refused to continue to work with her harasser, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the EEOC's suit, the administrator's direct supervisor subjected her to sexual harassment for years, which the administrator reported to the company. The harassment ceased for a period and then resumed, culminating in forced sexual touching in September 2022, which was reported to law enforcement. The EEOC charged that FedEx refused to permanently separate the supervisor from the administrator and eventually fired the administrator for refusing to return to work with him.

"Employees should not be made to endure workplace harassment by their supervisors, particularly where the employer is aware of it and takes insufficient action," saidMichael Kirkland, director of the EEOC's New Orleans Field Office.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex in the workplace. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Federal Express Corporation, Civil Action No. 2:25-cv-01997) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Jacqueline Barber, a senior trial attorney in the EEOC's New Orleans Field Office, said, "It is not acceptable for an employer to go through perfunctory motions of investigating sexual harassment without taking effective measures to prevent and remedy it."

For more information on sexual harassment, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment. For more information on sex-based employment discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sex-based-discrimination.

The EEOC's Houston District Office has jurisdiction over southeast Texas, as well as all of Louisiana.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government's employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.