Federal employment officials say Fred Meyer repeatedly ignored several female employees’ complaints, spanning at least four years, of sexual harassment by a male coworker.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this week filed a lawsuit that claims managers at a Fred Meyer store in Richland, Washington, were aware of the male coworker’s “sexual remarks, inappropriate touching and propositioning of female employees” but failed to address the problem.

The lawsuit details several accounts of at least five women who reported being sexually harassed or propositioned by the male clerk, who is not named. One said she was 17 years old when the male clerk invited her to his cabin and followed her home in his car after work, the lawsuit alleges. The female employee, who is not named in the lawsuit, claimed she filed a complaint but managers “did nothing” to stop the conduct.

Another said the man “pressed his hand on her apron near her genitals,” the lawsuit says. The woman reported the incident in writing to store managers, who gave the male clerk a “final warning,” according to the lawsuit, but allegations from other women suggest the male clerk’s behavior continued.

Melissa Lozano, the only employee named in the lawsuit, said the male clerk “wolf whistled” at her, would wait for her outside the store after closing and would follow her in his car after she left. Store managers instructed the male clerk to stop contacting Lozano, but the male clerk ignored the instructions, the lawsuit said.

Lozano told the federal officials she’d escalated her complaints to executives at Kroger Co., Fred Meyer’s parent company. The lawsuit claims she received no response.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges Fred Meyer issued repeated warnings to the male clerk but allowed him to continue working and harassing his coworkers until he was finally fired in 2021.

A Fred Meyer spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

It’s not the first time the Portland-based Kroger subsidiary has faced such claims.

In 2014, Fred Meyer agreed to pay $487,500 to seven Milwaukie store employees after the EEOC filed a sexual harassment lawsuit in 2011.

The retailer also paid $485,000 to three Oregon City store employees to settle a similar lawsuit filed by the federal agency in late 2008.

-- Kristine de Leon covers the retail industry, small business and data enterprise stories. Reach her at kdeleon@oregonian.com.

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