Moreland Automotive Group LLLP and other interrelated auto dealerships and financing companies are accused in a federal lawsuit filed today of firing a female employee who had taken part in an earlier lawsuit alleging a sexually hostile work environment.
The suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in U.S. District Court in Denver says the companies — Moreland, Kids’ Financial, Inc. doing business as C.A.R. Finance, Kids’ Automotive Inc., and Brandon Financial Inc. — intentionally fired Lucille Fancher in June 2008 after she accepted money as part of a settlement in an earlier EEOC lawsuit she participated in.
A spokeswoman for the Moreland Group did not immediately return a call seeking comment this afternoon.
In the earlier lawsuit from 2006, EEOC charged the same companies with allowing a sexually hostile work environment that included lewd comments and pornographic materials on work computers, then retaliating against employees who reported sexual harassment to management.
The EEOC filed the original case after settlement negotiations had failed.
Owner “Dealin'” Doug Moreland at the time said he welcomed the litigation saying the companies had a “zero tolerance for discrimination.”
The case settled for $70,000, records show, and included six female employees, including Fancher. Two other women had settled their related claims separately.
Fancher had worked at the group for 10 years when she was fired, EEOC says. Another employee in the lawsuit kept her job when she did not accept her share of the settlement money, the current lawsuit says.
The current EEOC action seeks back pay and compensation for emotional distress and punitive damages.
