$20M Sexual Harassment Verdict Reached Against Largo Travel Agency

A Largo travel agency was ordered to pay more than $20 million after a federal jury found the company guilty of sexual harassment and retaliation, officials said Wednesday.

The jury, in a unanimous verdict, awarded $20,251,963 to eight former employees of Four Amigos Travel, Inc. and Top Dog Travel, Inc., according to a news release from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the suit in U.S. district court in Tampa on the employees' behalf.

The actual payouts will be less than that because of $200,000 federal caps on damages.

According to the lawsuit, travel agency owner Ronald Schlom and male managers at the company's Largo office subjected a group of female employees to "egregious sexual harassment on a daily basis."

The abuse included "unwanted sexual advances, physical touching and repeated propositions for sex in a work environment filled with sexual banter, abuse of power and outright disrespect for women," the EEOC said. According to the suit, managers asked female subordinates to have sex in the restroom, made suggestive gestures and led meeting discussions on such topics as "how to please a woman," the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The suit also alleged that the company fired a manager for bringing forward the victims' complaints.

The jury's April 30 decision awarded $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages to five former employees. The court also awarded them nearly $100,00 in back pay.

The jury also awarded two former female employees, Anne Patricia Matacchiero and Lisamarie Huskey-Egan, and former manager Brian Egan $1.25 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages. The court awarded these three employees an additional $402,087 in back pay.

The trial was limited to damages, as the company defaulted and presented no defense or evidence at the hearing.

“This was a long journey for these women who were forced to work under unspeakable conditions at this workplace,” said Gregory Lee McClinton, the EEOC's lead attorney in the case, in a media release. “Their testimony about how the sexual harassment occurred and how it affected their lives was very powerful.” 

Related Coverage

• Sexual Harassment Class Action Suit Filed Against Two Largo Travel Companies

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