OAKLAND — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal lawsuit last week alleging that Goodwill Industries of the East Bay and a nonprofit affiliate allowed a supervisor to continuously sexually harass disabled janitors who worked at night. Related Articles Trump won’t commit to a peaceful transfer of power

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A night shift supervisor reportedly sexually harassed at least five women who were employed as janitors under a federal government contract by Goodwill and nonprofit Calidad Industries, according to a news release from the EEOC. Calidad provides vocational training and employment to individuals with significant disabilities.

A claim of harassment was filed by multiple workers in 2012, said Goodwill spokeswoman Linda Pratt. Another claim was filed around that time, alleging that workers with disabilities were denied pay increases.

Goodwill completed a full investigation following the claims and “at the time, it didn’t reveal any discrepancies in pay or that harassment has occurred,” Pratt said. The accused supervisor stopped working for the company more than three years ago, but Pratt did not know why he left.

The lawsuit claims that Goodwill and Calidad also retaliated against managers who tried to help the women, who were contracted to clean the Oakland Federal Building. Most of the janitors were employed through a program that provides jobs for people with disabilities.

The supervisor reportedly routinely inappropriately touched, leered, proposed and asked intrusive questions about the women’s sex lives, according to the EEOC. He also “groped his genitals in front of female janitors and others so often that federal building employees nicknamed him ‘Mr. Bojangles.'”

EEOC claims that Goodwill and Calidad did not take any action to protect the workers, even after repeated reports of sexual harassment. An investigation by the EEOC showed the supervisor also “falsified mandated time studies, denying the workers with disabilities pay increases based on their actual performance.” EEOC also said that two managers were disciplined and unfairly criticized in retaliation for supporting the victims’ claims, leading one manager to resign.

“It’s unfortunate that a program designed to assist workers with severe disabilities to secure a foothold in the workplace instead permitted a supervisor to exploit his authority over workers made more vulnerable by their disabilities and the isolation of working the night shift,” EEOC’s San Francisco District Director William R. Tamayo said in a news release.

EEOC seeks lost wages plus compensatory and punitive damages for the workers and an injunction to prevent further violations.

Goodwill entered a mediation with the EEOC over these claims and a resolution was to follow up, Pratt said. About 16 months passed with no correspondence from the EEOC until they filed the lawsuit last week and caught Goodwill officials “off guard.”

“What’s relevant is that we take this very seriously. It’s concerning for us because Goodwill is a people first organization and we care very highly for our employees,” Pratt said. “We’re looking forward to this period of discovery and finding out if there are things we need to do differently. … We want to do what’s right for our employees and our participants.”