A new Justice Department settlement reminds landlords and other businesses subject to federal discrimination and harassment rules that federal sexual harassment prohibitions protect customers as well as employees. Businesses should go against incurring their own liability by ensuring their practices, training and policies appropriately prevent their employees from sexually harassing or engaging in other inappropriate discrimination against customers as well as employees.

On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced a settlement of a sexual harassment lawsuit against the Housing Authority of the City of Bloomfield, Missouri, and its former executive director, Eddie Joe Hankins under the Fair Housing Act filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in September 2025.

The new settlement is part of the Justice Department’s Sexual Harassment in Housing Initiative the Justice Department launched in October 2017. The initiative seeks to address and raise awareness about sexual harassment by landlords, property managers, maintenance workers, loan officers and other people who have control over housing. Since launching the initiative, the department has filed 52 lawsuits alleging sexual harassment in housing and recovered more than $17 million for victims of such harassment.

The lawsuit resolved with the new settlement alleges that in 2021, Hankins subjected a female housing applicant to unwelcome sexual comments and touching without her consent, and offered to place her on the wait list for housing in exchange for sex. The lawsuit also alleges that the Housing Authority is vicariously liable for Hankins’ unlawful conduct.h

To resolve the lawsuit the Housing Authority and Hankins agreed to pay $35,000 to the housing applicant. In addition, the Housing Authority agreed to implement important protections for both the woman who alleged that Hankins asked her for sex in exchange for a place to live as well as other current or prospective housing authority tenants in the city of Bloomfield. The settlement agreement also permanently bars Hankins from managing residential rental properties and requires employees of the Housing Authority to complete Fair Housing Act training.

The Justice Department press release about the settlement quotes Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division as warning, “The Justice Department will hold housing providers accountable when they target and exploit vulnerable tenants.”

“The Trump Administration will not permit housing providers to prey on vulnerable women and engage in immoral and illegal sexual harassment in violation of the Fair Housing Act,” said Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig W. Trainor of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “The Department is dedicated to vigorous fair housing enforcement and ensuring the right of everyone to feel safe and secure in their homes. This settlement reflects that commitment.”

In keeping with this enforcement commitment, HUD and the Justice Department are inviting are victims of sexual harassment by another landlord or property manager or have suffered other forms of housing discrimination to call the Justice Department’s Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743 or submit a report online.

These and other cases send a strong message to landlords, lenders and others involved in providing housing or other services subject to federal sexual harassment and discrimination laws to ensure that their policies, practices, and training prevent sexual harassment of customers as well as employees. Along with postings alerting tenants or other customers of the companies policy against sexual harassment and mechanisms for reporting potential concerns, companies should have and conduct documented training of all employees about their policies prohibiting sexual harassment. Covered organizations also should have strong oversight, reporting and investigation processes to prevent, investigate and regress potential sexual harassment or other violations of these policies. These policies also clearly prevent retaliation against applicant, employees, or other witnesses or reporting or cooperating in investigation of alleged violations of the policies.

The author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer has decades of experience advising and representing residential housing providers, lenders, health care organizations and others government contractors and grant recipients, and others about management and resolution of issues involving customer and employee sexual harassment, discrimination and other legal and compliance, risk management and other operational and enforcement matters. If you have questions or need advice or help evaluating or addressing these or other compliance, risk management, or other concerns, contact her. 

For More Information

We hope this update is helpful. For more information about these or other legal, contractual or operational compliance or risk management, please contact the author Cynthia Marcotte Stamer via e-mail or via telephone at (214) 452-8297.

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About the Author

Recognized by her peers as a Martindale-Hubble “AV-Preeminent” (Top 1%) and “Top Rated Lawyer” with special recognition LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® as “LEGAL LEADER™ Texas Top Rated Lawyer” in Health Care Law and Labor and Employment Law; as among the “Best Lawyers In Dallas” for her work in the fields of “Labor & Employment,” “Tax: ERISA & Employee Benefits,” “Health Care” and “Business and Commercial Law” by D Magazine, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a practicing attorney board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and management consultant, author, public policy advocate and lecturer widely known for her more than 35 years of health industry and other management work, public policy leadership and advocacy, coaching, teachings, and publications including leading edge work on workforce and other risk management and compliance.

Ms. Stamer’s work throughout her career has focused heavily on working with businesses domestically and internationally on employment, benefits, technology, data confidentiality, privacy, and security, and other Federal Sentencing Guidelines and other workforce management, regulatory and public policy and other legal and operational concerns.  

Author of many highly regarded compliance, training and other resources on these and other operations, risk management, compliance and government affairs concerns, Ms. Stamer is widely recognized for her thought leadership and advocacy on these matters.  

In addition, Ms. Stamer currently or previously served as the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits OCR annual agency scribe and a Council Representative, International Section International Employment Law Committee Chair and International Life Sciences and Health Committee Chair, ABA TIPS Medicine and Law Committee Chair, ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group Chair, former Vice President and Executive Director of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association, past Board President of Richardson Development Center (now Warren Center) for Children Early Childhood Intervention Agency, past North Texas United Way Long Range Planning Committee Member, and past Board Member and Compliance Chair of the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas, and a host of other professional and civic leadership roles. She is a Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, the American Bar Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation, Ms. Stamer also shares her extensive publications and thought leadership as well as leadership involvement in a broad range of other professional and civic organizations. 

For more information about Ms. Stamer or her health industry and other experience and involvements, see www.cynthiastamer.com or contact Ms. Stamer via telephone at (214) 452-8297 or via e-mail here.

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