Home Depot has agreed to pay $65,000 to a former employee after state investigators concluded the company failed to stop ongoing sexual harassment at its Fridley store.
Home Depot settles with Minnesota over sexual harassment complaints at Fridley store
The home improvement retail chain agreed to pay $65,000 after the Department of Human Rights found probable cause of harassment.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 30, 2025 at 3:30PM
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights found “probable cause” that a female employee was sexually harassed numerous times over three years by three male co-workers.
The human rights department announced a settlement Thursday with Home Depot, requiring the Atlanta-based retailing giant to make changes to prevent future sexual harassment and compensate the former worker for lost wages and emotional duress.
“Sexual harassment is a violation of the law and denial of basic human dignity,” Rebecca Lucero, the Human Rights Department’s commissioner, said in a statement. “It harms individuals’ mental health, job performance and well-being.”
Home Depot did not consistently follow its own sexual harassment policies, the state concluded.
In a statement, Home Depot said: “We don’t tolerate harassment in any form and are committed to respect for all people. We settled this matter so we can focus on our business.”
The Human Rights Department investigated and issued conclusions in 745 employment discrimination cases in Minnesota between Jan. 1, 2020, and the beginning of December. Of those cases, 9% were resolved in favor of the complainants.
In the Home Depot case, the worker who filed the discrimination charge worked at the Fridley store from September 2017 through August 2021. She is in her late 40s, but the state did not disclose her name.
According to a report from the state’s investigation of Home Depot:
From early 2018 through late 2019, one of the female employee’s co-workers commented on her appearance, ran his hand across her back, attempted to tickle her and touched the side of her breast. She reported the behavior to two assistant managers, but the harassing behavior continued.
The co-worker was eventually fired in October 2019 after sexually harassing at least two other female employees.
In September 2019, a second male co-worker posted allegedly improper social media comments to the female employee, including a picture of two flies atop each other with the words, “need some help sister?” A few days later, that same co-worker asked her if she was watching porn.
She reported her concerns, but no action was taken.
A third co-worker sexual allegedly harassed the woman in 2019 and 2020 after she tried to break off a romantic relationship. The co-worker sent her crude messages and a picture of his genitals. In the office one day, he also showed the woman a meme of a sex toy, saying it reminded him of her.
She complained to Home Depot management, which started an investigation. The male worker quickly resigned and Home Depot halted its inquiry.
“However, [Home Depot’s] duty to thoroughly investigate the claims and prevent further incidents of sexual harassment did not end when the alleged harasser resigned,” the Human Rights Department wrote in its probable cause memorandum.
Under the state settlement, Home Depot must enforce anti-harassment policies, conduct training on those policies and hold store managers accountable.
More than 70 people came out to Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis to protest Target’s move in the wake of the Trump administration’s efforts to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
