The EEOC forms matter

The 5th Cir recently ruled that a Plaintiff who had alleged sexual discrimination must allege it in the EEOC forms. Even though the Plaintiff has talked about retaliation from making a complaint of sexual discrimination to her employer she did not explicitly claim that she was sexually discriminated against and therefore the claim failed based on this technicality. The Court went on to state that reading out loud of a sexually explicit article and publicly giving a sexually explicit doll to a co-employee is not severe and pervasive enough to amount to sexual harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The 5th Cir seems to still go out of its way to find that these types of behavior are just fine with the 5th Cir. Fortunately, the employees retaliation claim survived since she did get fired (contract was not renewed) after she complained. So for El Paso, Texas employees it is very important that you see a board certified employment lawyer to review your EEOC documents in a timely manner. For Las Cruces New Mexico employees if they file their claims under State Law the New Mexico Supreme Court has not been as exacting on the EEOC forms ( which are cofiled with the state agency for protecting employees from discrimination).