WASHINGTON - January 17 - Wackenhut Puerto Rico must pay an $80,000 settlement to former employee Catalina Lopez Vasquez in a case that was brought by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regarding sexual harassment and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Wackenhut Puerto Rico is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Wackenhut Corporation, which is owned by London-based security conglomerate Group 4 Securicor.

The court will enforce the five year settlement that includes the creation of a Wackenhut anti-discrimination policy, a new anti-retaliation policy, mandatory training on sexual discrimination and reporting for Wackenhut's managers and supervisory personnel at its corporate headquarters in Puerto Rico.

At least three other cases are currently pending in U.S. District Court in which Wackenhut is named as a defendant, involving allegations of various forms of discrimination or civil rights violations, including race discrimination arising from the company's security work.

Wackenhut or its subsidiaries have been involved in extensive discrimination litigation in U.S. District Court in addition to this case and at least three others currently pending:

* Wackenhut discriminated against Lisa Lulaj on the basis of sex, and awarded her damages according to a Detroit jury in April 2006; execution of judgment has been stayed pending resolution of appeals.

* Judgment was entered against Wackenhut in March 2006 in a case brought by Karen Franklin in Seattle, who alleged she suffered gender and race discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment.

* An African-American former Vice President and General Manager for the National Capitol Region has sued Wackenhut for race discrimination in Washington, D.C.

* Two cases in Tennessee allege racial discrimination in hiring, promotion and advancement, and a racially hostile workplace at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation. For more information, visit http://www.EyeonWackenhut.com. Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's largest security officers union, has a national program to raise standards in the security industry. More than 55,000 private security officers and public safety officials are members of SEIU, which has 1.8 million members overall.

###