Justin Vineyards & Winery is the object of public ire once again.
After years of outrage over the company clearing acres of native oak woodlands, Justin Vineyards is now accused of ignoring claims of sexual harassment.
On Aug. 25, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against Justin Vineyards and its owner The Wonderful Company on behalf of a group of female employees who were allegedly subjected to sexual abuse by some supervisors since August 2017.
“Since at least 2017, defendants knew or should have known of the hostile work environment at its worksites. The sexually charged and inappropriate actions and comments by the male supervisors were ubiquitous, open, frequent, and consistent in nature. Such behavior and comments were often within earshot or plain sight of defendants’ other managers and supervisors,” the complaint stated.
The court filing said that the action was brought forward under Titles VII and I of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991, respectively, to correct unlawful employment practices based on sex and to provide appropriate relief to those affected by such actions.
The list of reported offenses is long—from unwanted touching and sexually charged comments, to texting the concerned employees at 2 or 3 a.m. with a “desire to engage in sexual activity.” The document stated that Justin Vineyards was bound to know about these incidents because such behavior often took place within earshot or in view of other workplace leaders.
Speaking up about their experiences led to discrimination, the complaint said, adding that the aggrieved employees who complained got assigned extra or double shifts, had their customers’ allergy requests shrugged off, and had their supervisors “yell, verbally berate them, laugh at them, and slam doors.”
The commission wants the employees’ to be awarded with monetary compensation and punitive damages for being subjected to a hostile work environment and requested a jury trial. Justin Vineyards has close to a month to respond to the lawsuit.
Rachel Ostroff, The Wonderful Company spokesperson, emailed New Times a statement.
“Justin strongly denies it did anything improper and intends to defend against this filing. Beyond that, we do not comment on matters of litigation,” the statement read. Δ
This article appears in Sep 1-11, 2022.