Case: EEOC v. Grace Church

On September 28, 2006, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed this lawsuit against Grace Episcopal Church of Whitestone, Inc (Grace Church). and Episcopal Diocese of Long Island (Diocese) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleging discrimination on the basis of sex and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the complaint alleged the defendants subjected the female complaining party to a sexually hostile work environment and terminated her in retaliation to her opposing these practices. The EEOC sought injunctive and monetary relief against the defendants. The case was assigned to Magistrate Judge William Wall.

The defendants successfully had the lawsuit dismissed in July 2007, as the EEOC failed to demonstrate that Grace Church and Diocese were an integrated enterprise or an employer of the complaining party. At the same time the EEOC's partial motion for summary judgment was denied. The court granted the EEOC leave to amend their complaint. 2007 WL 4914663. On December 18, 2007, the EEOC filed an amended complaint against the defendants.

On January 25, 2008, Diocese moved to dismiss the EEOC’s amended complaint. Diocese argued that the EEOC did not sufficiently plead that Diocese was an employer under Title VII, and therefore the amended complaint should be dismissed. The court did not agree. On July 15, 2008, the court denied Diocese’s motion to dismiss EEOC’s amended complaint.

For nearly three years, the parties underwent discovery proceedings. On November 30, 2012, settlement discussions began. The complainant intervened as a plaintiff, on May 20, 2013. The next day, the parties’ reached an agreement, and the court approved their consent decree.

This consent decree allowed the court to retain jurisdiction for three years to ensure compliance. The decree concerned monetary and injunctive relief. For the monetary relief, the Grace Church agreed to pay $192,000.00 to the charging party and claimant. For injunctive relief, the defendants agreed to refrain from retaliation and sex discrimination. The defendants next agreed to adopt non-discriminatory policies and procedures. In addition, the defendants agreed to provide anti-employment discrimination training to all employees, post notices of this lawsuit’s resolution in prominent places where employee notices were posted, report regularly to the EEOC, and keep records up to date that were relevant to employment discrimination.

There are no indication of non-compliance by the parties, and the duration of the consent decree has lapsed. The case is presumably closed.