EEOC Sues C&M Defense Group for Sexual Harassment and Retaliation

Federal lawsuit alleges security company subjected female employee to hostile work environment, then fired her

ATLANTA – C&M Defense Group, LLC, a provider of security services to businesses in Atlanta, and now operating as Global Security Management Team, LLC, violated federal law by subjecting a security officer to sexual harassment and firing her after she complained about the abuse, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

The EEOC charged that a female security officer was subjected to sexual harassment by her immediate supervisor. The abuse included frequent, unwanted sexual comments, sexual advances, and threats of physical violence after the security officer rejected the supervisor’s advances. The suit also asserted that the security officer complained to C&M’s field support manager and to the owner/CEO, but C&M failed to properly remedy the harassment. Instead, the company reassigned the security officer to a job site with hours it knew she could not work, effectively terminating her employment in July 2023.

“Title VII clearly prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace,” said Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office. “The EEOC will take decisive action when an employer permits its managers to harass employees.”

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment and retaliation in employment. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. C&M Defense Group, LLC, and Global Security Management Team, LLC, Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-5337) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Darrell Graham, district director of the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office, said, “Ensuring workplaces are free from sexual harassment remains a top priority for the EEOC. Our agency will hold employers accountable if they allow this type of inexcusable conduct to occur.”

For more information on sexual harassment, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment.

The EEOC’s Atlanta District Office has jurisdiction over Georgia and the counties of Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Georgetown, Hampton, Jasper and Williamsburg in South Carolina.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.