NEW YORK — VIP Auto Group of Long Island, Inc., and one of the dealerships in its network, Garden City Jeep Chrysler Dodge, LLC, will pay $175,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

In its lawsuit, the EEOC charged that both defendants allowed the inventory manager at their Long Island car dealership to touch and grab female employees’ breasts and backsides; run his hand down a female employee’s hair and back; regularly engage in sexual moaning and catcalling; and talk about female employees’ bodies and his own sex life. Managers regularly witnessed this harassment, and female employees repeatedly complained to management and human resources, filed EEOC charges and a federal lawsuit, but the harassment continued.

“One woman after another refused to accept the inventory manager’s sexual harassment,” said Daniel Seltzer, trial attorney in the EEOC’s New York District Office. “Now, thanks to their courage in coming forward, other employees at Garden City Jeep won’t have to.”

The defendants’ alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Garden City Jeep Chrysler Dodge, LLC and VIP Auto Group of Long Island, Inc., Case No. 2:24-cv-06878) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Arlean Nieto, acting director of the EEOC’s New York District, said, “The EEOC is committed to enforcing Title VII’s prohibition on sexual harassment at car dealerships and at all workplaces.”

In addition to monetary relief, the two-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit requires training for defendants’ owners, managers, and human resources employees on preventing and correcting harassment; significant revisions to the employee handbook; and compliance-related reporting to the EEOC. The decree also prohibits defendants from re-hiring the inventory manager who engaged in the alleged harassment.

For more information on sex-based discrimination and sexual harassment, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sex-based-discrimination and https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment.

The EEOC’s New York District Office has jurisdiction over New York, northern New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.