Federal Contract Worker Agrees to Take $83,000 on Harassment Win

A former manager for a government contractor, whom a jury found experienced a hostile workplace when her employer failed to stop rumors that she was trading sex for promotions, agreed to accept $50,000 for the bias instead of the $725,000 the jury awarded, Maryland federal court records show.

The jury returned the verdict for Evangeline Parker and against Reema Consulting Services Inc. Dec. 9. But Parker told the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland Jan. 7 that she agreed with the company that the jury award is capped at $50,000 under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act based on Reema’s size.

She and Reema also agreed that she is owed $33,039 in back pay, Parker said, asking the court to enter judgment in the amount of $83,039.

Parker also seeks pre- and post-judgment interest on the judgment, but she and the company disagree on the rate at which the pre-judgment interest should be calculated, according to Parker’s motion seeking entry of judgment.

“The parties agree that the Court can assess an appropriate rate,” she said.

Parker in a separate motion Jan. 7 asks the court to award her just over $1 million in attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses, and other costs.

The jury verdict was reached following a five-day trial before Judge Theodore D. Chuang and came after Parker’s suit was partially revived by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in February 2019.

Parker faced workplace gossip that she only rose from the general clerk position she held when she was hired by Reema to the dual role as logistics manager and part-time warehouse assistant manager she held, following four promotions, because she was sleeping with her boss, the appeals court said.

That reflected “a deeply rooted” stereotype that only women face, the Fourth Circuit said.

The U.S. Supreme Court in October 2019 declined to review that ruling.

The jury had awarded Parker $340,000 in compensatory damages and $385,000 in punitive damages, according to the verdict form.

Fish & Richardson PC and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs represent Parker. RKW Law Group and Wright, Constable & Skeen LLP represent Reema.

The case is Parker v. Reema Consulting Servs., Inc., D. Md., No. 8:17-cv-01648, motion for judgment 1/7/22.