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SPLC Wins Settlement for Woman Sexually Assaulted at Work; Employer to Reform Policies

Tuscarora Yarns Inc. of Mt. Pleasant, N.C. will enforce an improved sexual harassment policy as the result of a lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on behalf of a Latina factory worker who was sexually assaulted and brutalized by the plant manager after she had earlier reported his sexual harassment to officials at the company.

Tuscarora Yarns Inc. of Mt. Pleasant, N.C. will enforce an improved sexual harassment policy as the result of a lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on behalf of a Latina factory worker who was sexually assaulted and brutalized by the plant manager after she had earlier reported his sexual harassment to officials at the company. These significant changes are a part of a settlement in which the yarn company has also agreed to pay $230,000 to settle the sexual harassment allegations.

“There is no amount of money that will ever make our client whole but she is extremely pleased that the company is making changes to prevent anyone else from being victimized the way she was,” said Mónica Ramírez, the lead SPLC attorney on the case. “Too often immigrant workers are seen as easily exploitable because they very often do not know there are laws to protect them from the kind of brutal harassment and abuse our client suffered.”


Lilia Martinez was attacked by a plant manager and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.