The Role of Advocates, Counselors, Social Workers, and Medical Professionals in Obtaining Remedies for Victims

Intended audience: OCADSV member programs, DV/SA advocates, unions, counselors, social workers, medical professionals

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the federal agency charged with investigating and litigating cases of employment discrimination including sexual harassment (which may involve rape) and retaliation. The EEOC has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for victims including EEOC v. Harris Farms (nearly $1 million verdict for farm worker who was raped multiple times), EEOC v. ABM ($5.8 million settlement for Latina janitors who were sexually harassed), EEOC v. Moreno Farms ($17 million jury verdict for farm workers raped multiple times), etc. In EEOC v. National Education Association – Alaska the EEOC obtained a $750,000 gender harassment settlement for 3 women.

Trainer William R. Tamayo directs the EEOC’s San Francisco District which includes Northern California, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana. During his tenure as EEOC Regional Attorney (1995-2015) the office recovered millions of dollars in sexual harassment and retaliation cases. Some of that work was featured in the award winning Frontline documentary, Rape in the Fields. He has conducted training on sexual harassment, violence and retaliation for many groups including the Idaho Coalition on Domestic and Sexual Violence, Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, Futures Without Violence, National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women, etc. Prior to joining the EEOC, he was the co-lead author for the memorandum for Congress that created the “self-petitioning provision” of the Violence Against Women Act allowing over 90,000 battered wome to date obtain “green cards” without the batterer husband’s cooperation.

This training will have a screening of Frontlines: “Rape on the Night Shift”. Please be aware that survivors describe in detail their experiences of sexual assault.