In its complaint in this Title VII suit, the EEOC Seattle District Office alleged that a teacher's union, the National Education Association, and its local affiliate NEA-Alaska, subjected three female employees in NEA-Alaska's Anchorage office (a trainer/organizer and two office support staff) to a sexually hostile work environment and constructively discharged one of them. National NEA helped place Thomas Harvey into a high-level management position at NEA-Alaska, despite his record of targeting female employees for abuse when he worked at two other NEA affiliates. Harvey was part of NEA's Unified State Executive Director Program (USEDP), through which NEA helps small affiliates pay the cost of employing executive directors. Harvey regularly subjected women at NEA-Alaska to verbal abuse and intimidation (including screaming and shaking his fist in their faces), though he rarely raised his voice to male employees. The federal district court for Alaska dismissed the case on the grounds that Harvey's behavior was not overtly sexual and thus not unlawful sexual harassment. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the suit, ruling that harassing conduct does not have to be motivated by lust or misogyny to be illegal sex discrimination.

The San Francisco District Office resolved the case with a 3-year consent decree under which the three charging party/plaintiff-intervenors will receive $750,000 in monetary relief. The decree contains a number of provisions designed to promote information-sharing between NEA and its state affiliates regarding complaints made against USEDP participants. NEA will require each state affiliate that participates in the USEDP program to include USEDP participants in the antiharassment training that the state affiliate provides to its supervisors and managers. For the term of the decree, National NEA must report annually to the EEOC regarding discrimination complaints made by employees of NEA or its state affiliates and any action taken to resolve those complaints. NEA-Alaska must file similar reports with EEOC.

EEOC v. National Education Assoc. and NEA-Alaska
No. A01-0225-CV (JKS) (D. Alaska May 19, 2006)