{"id":13306,"date":"2015-07-01T11:14:52","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T18:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13306"},"modified":"2015-07-01T11:14:52","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T18:14:52","slug":"largest-housing-sexual-discrimination-lawsuit-under-fair-housing-act-settled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13306","title":{"rendered":"Largest Housing Sexual Discrimination Lawsuit Under Fair Housing Act Settled"},"content":{"rendered":"
NORTH CAROLINA<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Federal officials announced today that a public housing agency and two former employees agreed to pay $2.7 million to settle a sexual discrimination lawsuit that alleges that female applicants of the Section 8 voucher housing program were sexually harassed.<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
This represents the largest monetary settlement ever agreed to in a sexual harassment case brought by the Justice Department under the Fair Housing Act, officials said.<\/div>\n

Justice Department officials stated that Southeastern Community and Family Services Inc.<\/strong>, a public housing agency that administers the Section 8 voucher program in Scotland County, North Carolina<\/strong>, and two of Family Services Inc.’s former employees, have agreed to pay more than $2.7 million in monetary damages and civil penalties to settle consolidated Fair Housing Act lawsuits.<\/p>\n

The defendants will pay $2.7 million as damages to the victims including fifteen victims who filed a private lawsuit and their attorneys, and any additional victims that come forth, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one who provides much-needed housing or housing benefits to low-income women has the right to demand sexual favors in exchange for that housing,\u201d said Assistant Secretary Gustavo Velasquez of the Department of Housing and Urban Development \u2014HUD<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s wrong and it\u2019s illegal.\u00a0 Today\u2019s settlement reaffirms the Justice Department\u2019s and HUD\u2019s commitment to protecting the rights of women to live safely in their homes, without harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed in December against Family Services Inc. and two of its former employees, John Wesley<\/strong> and former state Highway Patrol Trooper Eric Pender.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The suits allege that Wesley, Family Services\u2019s former Section 8 housing coordinator, and Pender, Family Service’s former housing inspector, sexually harassed female voucher program participants and applicants.<\/p>\n

Authorities said Wesley and Pender allegedly subjected voucher program participants and applicants to unwanted sexual comments, sexual touching and other sexual acts, conditioned or offered Section 8 benefits in exchange for sexual acts.<\/p>\n

The two took adverse housing actions against those who rebuffed their sexual advances, officials said.<\/p>\n

As alleged in the complaint, Wesley and Pender engaged in this conduct while exercising their authority as employees of Family Services, and the agency failed to take reasonable preventive or corrective measures.<\/p>\n

Family Services terminated the employment of Wesley and Pender after the department filed its lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\n

The consent decree, which is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court, requires<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NORTH CAROLINA Federal officials announced today that a public housing agency and two former employees agreed to pay $2.7 million to settle a sexual discrimination lawsuit that alleges that female applicants of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[1454,694,1453],"class_list":["post-13306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-housing","tag-hud","tag-sexual-discrimination"],"yoast_head":"\nLargest Housing Sexual Discrimination Lawsuit Settled<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The largest sexual discrimination under the Fair Housing Act was settled for $2.7 million, officials announced.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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