ERA & Civil Rights Orgs File Amicus Brief in Support of Workplace Sexual Harassment Claim Against Tortilla Company

May 13. 2025

For Immediate Release
May 13, 2025

Media Contact
Nazirah Ahmad
[email protected]

CHICAGO, May 13, 2025 — Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), supported by a coalition of leading workers’ and civil rights organizations, has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in support of a female worker at El Milagro tortilla factory. The brief is co-led by Outten & Golden and Mehri & Skalet PLLC.

The brief urges the court to reverse the district court’s dismissal of a sexual harassment lawsuit that alleged that a woman employee was repeatedly sexually harassed by co-workers at one of El Milagro’s tortilla factories in the Chicago area.

“The district court’s ruling ignores survivors’ real-world experience of workplace sexual harassment and sets a dangerous precedent for women in vulnerable employment positions.”

– Catherine Bendor, ERA Director of Litigation

The original lawsuit, filed by plaintiff Alma Sanchez in January 2022, sought to address widespread sexual harassment at El Milagro’s Chicago-area facilities. Despite acknowledging that Ms. Sanchez experienced “inappropriate and distasteful” conduct and that she “understandably felt that she has been subjected to a sexually hostile work environment,” the Northern District of Illinois granted El Milagro’s motion for summary judgment in November 2024, ruling that the harassment did not meet the legal threshold of “severe or pervasive” harassment required to establish liability.

“The district court’s ruling ignores survivors’ real-world experience of workplace sexual harassment and sets a dangerous precedent for women in vulnerable employment positions,” said Catherine Bendor, Director of Litigation at Equal Rights Advocates. “Both physical and verbal sexual harassment have a cumulative effect and can create a hostile environment that denies women equal access to economic opportunity and dignity at work. We’re asking the Seventh Circuit to recognize this reality.”

“Workers across this country will not stand for this kind of blatant misconduct—whether in Illinois or anywhere else.”

– Ellen Eardley, managing partner at Mehri & Skalet, PLLC

The amicus brief argues that the district court applied an overly restrictive standard for what constitutes a hostile work environment. It details how the court failed to properly consider the totality of circumstances, including repeated physical touchings and “near daily” sex-based comments Ms. Sanchez experienced that created an environment where she felt unsafe and humiliated, exacerbated by Ms. Sanchez’s supervisor’s inaction when she reported the harassment. The vast majority of women who experience workplace harassment neither file a formal complaint nor informally report misconduct, and those who do often face inaction, ineffective responses, or retaliation by their employers.

“By prematurely dismissing Ms. Sanchez’s claims of egregious sexual harassment, the district court normalized the defendant’s behavior and ignored prevailing, established standards of acceptable workplace conduct,” said Moira Heiges-Goepfert, Counsel at Outten & Golden. “We are proud to join this coalition to safeguard women’s fundamental right to a jury trial in sexual harassment cases.”

The brief also points out that the court failed to recognize harassment victims’ right to present their claims to a jury under Title VII, and unlawfully dismissed Sanchez’s Illinois Human Rights Act claim, ignoring Illinois’ broadened legal definition of sexual harassment beyond the federal standard.

For years, women workers at El Milagro have reported being subjected to sexual harassment and that El Milagro’s failed to adequately investigate and remedy their claims.

“Workers across this country will not stand for this kind of blatant misconduct—whether in Illinois or anywhere else. It’s illegal, it’s unacceptable, and it has no place in the modern workplace,” said Ellen Eardley, managing partner at Mehri & Skalet, PLLC. “We’re calling on the court to let a jury hear the facts and deliver justice.”

The coalition of organizations joining ERA on the brief includes the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Legal Momentum, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center, NELA/Illinois, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, and Women Employed.

If successful, this appeal would affirm workplace protections for women in manufacturing and industrial settings, where reporting structures are often inadequate, and the predominantly male environment can exacerbate harassment and women’s fear of speaking out.

A hearing date for the appeal has not yet been set.

For additional information or to request an interview with attorneys from Equal Rights Advocates, please contact Blake Case at [email protected] or 601-832-6079.

###

About Equal Rights Advocates

Equal Rights Advocates fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools across the country. Since 1974, they have been fighting on the front lines of social justice to protect and advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and people of all gender identities through groundbreaking legal cases and bold legislation that sets the stage for the rest of the nation. equalrights.org