{"id":13158,"date":"2023-05-09T10:46:40","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T10:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/?p=13158"},"modified":"2023-05-09T10:46:45","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T10:46:45","slug":"cape-verdean-woman-subjected-to-sexual-harassment-at-large-fishery-in-new-bedford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/our-impact\/employment\/cape-verdean-woman-subjected-to-sexual-harassment-at-large-fishery-in-new-bedford\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Verdean Woman Subjected to Sexual Harassment at Large Fishery in New Bedford"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Pervasive Hostile Work Environment at&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Large Fishery in New Bedford, MA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Female Worker Subjected to Sexual Harassment and Identity-Based Harassment at Eastern Fisheries<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a classic David versus Goliath scenario, a Black immigrant woman challenges one of New Bedford\u2019s largest seafood processors, Eastern Fisheries, after enduring years of pervasive sexual harassment and identity-based harassment in the workplace. New Bedford\u2019s fisheries are a substantial source of employment for communities of color and workers in low-paying jobs, yet the industry has largely failed to protect these workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lawyers for Civil Rights<\/strong>\u00a0(LCR) and\u00a0<strong>Justice at Work<\/strong>\u00a0join forces on this matter <a href=\"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Amended-Charge-Final-\u2013-5.9.23.pdf\">filed<\/a> with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD). The <a href=\"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Amended-Charge-Final-\u2013-5.9.23.pdf\">amended charge<\/a> details how Eastern Fisheries\u2019 leadership allowed\u00a0<strong>Ms. Paula Fortes, a heterosexual Cape Verdean woman<\/strong>, to be subjected to persistent sexual and racial harassment and offensive and inappropriate comments.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the numerous incidents, Ms. Fortes alleges:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Disparaging comments about her hair texture, including&nbsp;<strong>\u201cbroom hair<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li><li>Repeated comments about her racial background, including&nbsp;\u201c<strong>you don\u2019t have dark skin like Cape Verdeans<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li><li>Male workers making constant comments about her body and sexual advances, including \u201c<strong>I want that ass<\/strong>\u201d and \u201c<strong>one day I will have money to buy that ass<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li><li>Insults by both male and female workers about her perceived sexual orientation.<\/li><li>Having to clean bathrooms where workers intentionally left feces on the floor and drew offensive depiction of her on the wall.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite raising complaints, the employers, Eastern Fisheries, Inc., and BJ\u2019s Service Co., failed to meaningfully address or remedy her circumstances.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have worked with these companies for years and raised concerns about the treatment I was receiving due to my identity. Yet little was done to address the widespread harassment,\u201d said&nbsp;<strong>Ms. Fortes<\/strong>. \u201cThis experience was scarring and continues to impact my life to this day. I demand justice for myself and want changes to be made for the sake of all workers after me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe systematic dismissal of workers in low-wage jobs, particularly women of color and immigrant women, when experiencing any form of harassment is shameful and illegal. Employers who try to evade their responsibilities to protect workers from discrimination and harassment do so at their peril,\u201d said&nbsp;<strong>Mirian Albert, Staff Attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights<\/strong>.&nbsp;\u201cEmployers need to make a meaningful commitment to listen and protect all their workers.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Adrian Ventura, Director of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores (Community Worker Center or &#8220;CCT&#8221;)<\/strong>, where Ms. Fortes found support and access to demand her rights, adds: \u201cwhat happened here is the responsibility of the agency and company for not taking these types of abuses seriously enough. A business like Eastern Fisheries needs to become an example for the seafood processing industry and beyond. We invite workers of any race, gender or sexual orientation to join us at CCT to demand dignity at work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The complaint is available <a href=\"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Amended-Charge-Final-\u2013-5.9.23.pdf\">here<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Amended-Charge-Final-\u2013-5.9.23.pdf\" class=\"pdfemb-viewer\" style=\"\" data-width=\"max\" data-height=\"max\" data-toolbar=\"bottom\" data-toolbar-fixed=\"off\">Amended-Charge-Final-\u2013-5.9.23<\/a>\n<p class=\"wp-block-pdfemb-pdf-embedder-viewer\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pervasive Hostile Work Environment at&nbsp;Large Fishery in New Bedford, MA Female Worker Subjected to Sexual Harassment and Identity-Based Harassment at Eastern Fisheries In a classic David versus Goliath scenario, a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13158"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13160,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13158\/revisions\/13160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}