NORFOLK, Va. — Moore Comfort Home Care, LLC, a private home healthcare services provider to clients in Suffolk, Virginia and the surrounding areas, will pay $60,000 and provide other relief to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, between at least July 2022 through the fall of 2023, one of Moore’s owners subjected at least three women to sexual comments and unwelcome physical touching, causing at least one of the women to resign. The suit also alleged that another company owner was aware of the ongoing harassment yet did not take steps to stop the behavior or otherwise protect its employees from unwelcome sexual comments or conduct.

“It is essential that employers have effective procedures in place to prevent and remedy sexual harassment in the workplace,” said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District. “To be effective, procedures should include multiple ways an employee can report unlawful conduct. An employee’s only option should not be to report discrimination to the harasser, or to someone in a close relationship with the harasser.”

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees from harassment based on sex. The EEOC filed suit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Moore Comfort Home Care, LLC, Civil Action No.: 2:25-cv-00591) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.

Under the three-year consent decree settling the suit, Moore Comfort Home Care, LLC will pay $60,000 in damages to the affected employees; revise its anti-harassment and discrimination policy; hire a third-party monitor; conduct trainings on its anti-harassment and discrimination policy; post employee notices to inform workers on how to report harassment; and submit regularly scheduled compliance reports to the EEOC.

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

The EEOC’s Charlotte District has jurisdiction over North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

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.