HORN LAKE, Miss — A federal agency filed a lawsuit against a gymnastics training facility in Horn Lake on Monday, Sept. 30, alleging the center made female employees subject to "severe and pervasive sexual harassment" and violated Title VII.
In a news release, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said the president and majority owner of Intrepid Gymnastics LLC exposed a 19-year-old employee to sexual harassment, which continued a pattern of misconducts that include "sexual advances to female employees and students who were 19 years old or younger, frequently offering money for sex, asking them to procure other female employees for group sex, and sending sexually charged text messages."
The EEOC statement said the gymnastics center did not give young coaches and employees a harassment policy that defined conduct constituting sexual harassment. The center also failed to lay out details on reporting harassment and did not identify the person responsible for taking up harassment reports.
Before filing the suit, the EEOC tried to reach a pre-litigation settlement via its administrative conciliation process, according to the agency.
ABC24 has reached out to Intrepid Gymnastics for a statement.
