California jury awards $1M verdict to raped farm worker

A California jury awarded nearly $1 million in damages to an immigrant farm worker who claimed her employer forced her to quit after she reported that her supervisor raped her in the fields.

The case was one of the first farm worker sexual harassments suits to go to trial in California.

This is first major case of this kind that we are aware of where a farm worker got a verdict in her favor, said William Tamayo, an attorney with the EEOC, which brought the case against Harris Farms on behalf of Olivia Tamayo (not related).

Tamayo said the agency wants to send a message to employers that it will champion the cause of these vulnerable farm workers, many of whom are undocumented, speak little English and are ignorant of their legal rights. He hopes the case will encourage women who are victimized to come forward.