Court Grants Provisional Approval of $2 Million Settlement in Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Sheriff in Alabama

The Justice Department announced today that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama has provisionally approved its $2 million settlement agreement with the Sheriff of Mobile County, Alabama. The agreement, announced by the department on April 24, resolves the department’s lawsuit alleging that female corrections officers at the Mobile County Metro Jail were regularly subjected to severe and pervasive sexual harassment in the workplace by male inmates and that the sheriff’s office failed to take prompt and effective action to remedy this harassing conduct as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The court’s provisional approval means that the parties can begin to implement the agreement, including by providing notice to the current and former employees who have a right to request a monetary award under the agreement. Those individuals will then have an opportunity to submit comments on the settlement, which the court will consider at a fairness hearing on Aug. 25, 2023, before giving final approval to the agreement.

“The Justice Department brought this litigation to bring an end to the hostile work environment faced by women employed at the Mobile County Metro Jail,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The court’s action will help ensure that impacted female employees receive the relief that they rightly deserve.”

Read the source article at justice.gov