1-844-234-5122 (ASL Video Phone), Call 1-800-669-4000 As part of a five-year conciliation agreement, J.B. Hunt agreed to review and, if necessary, revise its hiring and selection policies to comply with EEOC's April 2012 enforcement guidance regarding employers' use of arrest and conviction records. Consequently, despite promising the Black applicant he would be hired for a warehouse position, the company hired a less qualified White applicant. The analyst was terminated allegedly because she left work 30 minutes early to beat the traffic. Additionally, the decree requires the company to implement and post written anti-discrimination policies and procedures, to provide training on race discrimination for all personnel and neutral references for the claimants, and to report to the EEOC any changes to its anti-discrimination policies and any future complaints alleging racial discrimination. The company also agreed to provide annual training for two years for its employees, including managers and human resources employees. Fla. Jan. 27, 2017). The Agency was ordered, among other things, to rescind the Letters and remove them from Complainant's personnel record, as well as adjust any subsequent discipline that was based on the Letters. According to the Commission's lawsuit, the staffing company unlawfully discriminated against a senior functional analyst, who was the oldest employee and only Caucasian in the department, because of her race and age in violation of Title VII and the ADEA when a young, African American supervisor subjected her to different treatment and terminated her when she complained. In March 2011, a television station settled a race and sex discrimination case filed by the EEOC for $45,000 and additional consideration. Complainant was reinstated to his position with backpay. 4:11-cv-03425 (S.D. even though the relevant union local is not a party to the suit. In addition to the monetary relief, the consent decree requires the company will repaint the restrooms and train employees on race discrimination within 45 days. 0720140005 (Dec. 9, 2016). According to the EEOC's lawsuit, a supervisor at Arizona Discount Movers frequently made racist comments to an African American employee named Clinton Lee. In July 2010, Area Temps, Inc., a northeast Ohio temporary labor agency, agreed to pay $650,000 to resolve an EEOC lawsuit alleging that the company engaged in a systematic practice of considering and assigning (or rejecting) job applicants by race, sex, Hispanic national origin and age. The harassing behavior continued despite numerous complaints by all three employees. EEOC ordered the agency to determine complainant's entitlement to compensatory damages; train the supervisor with regard to his obligations to eliminate discrimination in the federal workplace; and consider taking disciplinary action against the supervisor. In November 2007, the Commission upheld an Administrative Judge's finding of discrimination on the bases of race (African-American), sex (female), and disability (cervical strain/sprain) when complainant was not accommodated with a high back chair. The federal agency also reviewed the company's broader policy with respect to the hiring of job applicants with conviction records. The 2-year consent decree prohibits the company from engaging in sex and race discrimination and retaliation at the three stores. The employee had developed complications early in her pregnancy, obtained a light duty assignment, but was not permitted to continue her light duty assignment after her doctor imposed lifting restrictions even though Hispanic managers routinely assigned pregnant Hispanic women to light duty work at the same time she was being denied the same opportunity. EEOC v. Stone Pony Pizza, Inc., No. The decree also provides for posting anti-discrimination notices, record-keeping and reporting to the EEOC. Nine of the ten plaintiffs were Black employees. In December 2007, a convenience store distributor paid $100,000 to resolve an EEOC lawsuit alleging race, color, and national origin discrimination. When the Black intern raised concerns about unequal treatment with management, she was fired. In November 2007, the district court ruled in favor of the EEOC in its Title VII suit alleging that a Texas transportation shuttle service discriminated against African American drivers in favor of native African drivers by denying them the more profitable routes, sending them to destinations where no passengers awaited pickup, and misappropriating tips earned by the Black American drivers and instead giving them to the African drivers. In October 2006, EEOC obtained a $30,600 settlement in Title VII suit, alleging that a California-based office equipment supplier had fired an accounts payable specialist because she was African-American and because she had been pregnant, when it told her that after she returned from maternity leave, her assignment was complete and there were no other positions in the accounting department, permanently placed a non-Black, non-pregnant female who she had trained to fill-in during her maternity leave in her former position, and a week later hired a non-Black male to work in another accounting position in the same department. According to the EEOC, the employee, who had 30 years of experience in the oil industry, reported the racial harassment to Torqued-Up's management, but instead of putting a stop to it, the company unlawfully retaliated against him. In August 2009, a Pinehurst, N.C.-based support services company for condominium complexes and resorts paid $44,700 and will furnish significant remedial relief to settle a race and national origin discrimination lawsuit, alleging the company unlawfully discharged six housekeepers because of their race (African American) and national origin (non-Hispanic) and immediately replaced them with Hispanic workers. In July 2014, EEOC filed a lawsuit against AutoZone alleging the company unjustly fired a Chicago man for refusing to be transferred because of his race. Similar to discrimination based on race, age, gender, religion, and LGBTQ status, treating people with disabilities differently in the workplace is prohibited under: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 20, 2017). The EEOC ordered the placement of Complainant into the Division Secretary position, with appropriate back pay and benefits, and payment of attorney's fees and costs. The EEOC had alleged that the Farms subjected American workers, most of whom were African American, to discrimination based on national origin and race at their Colquitt County location. The consent decree also requires the company to post a remedial notice for one year and to notify any potential successors of the consent decree. In a judgment entered Oct. 9, the district court upheld the jury verdict that AA Foundries must pay punitive damages of $100,000 to former employee Christopher Strickland, $60,000 to former employee Leroy Beal, and $40,000 to former employee Kenneth Bacon. The complaint also alleged that defendant failed to retain employment applications. The district court dismissed the EEOC's case, ruling that Xerxes had "acted quickly and reasonably effectively to end" the harassment. In addition to the monetary settlement, the company is required to write an apology letter and a positive letter of reference for its former employee. EEOC v. Hamilton Growers, Inc., Civil Action No. Such alleged conduct violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which prohibits discriminating against individuals because they are age 40 or older. In September 2004, an AJ determined that a Black male complainant was subjected to race discrimination when he was not selected for an EEO Specialist (Mediator) position despite having performed the duties of the position in the area in which he applied. For more information on the ADA, please call the Justice Department's toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov. As part of the consent decree, Gonnella must also provide training to its employees on civility in the workplace and must institute a policy holding managers and supervisors responsible for preventing and stopping harassment in the workplace. EEOC v. River View Coal, LLC, No. In September 2010, a mineral company agreed to pay $440,000 and other relief to settle a class race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit. EEOC v. A.C. Widenhouse Inc., No. In March 2016, a manufacturing company based in New Ulm, Minn., paid $19,500 to settle a race discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC, alleging that Windings, Inc. violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it refused to hire a biracial (African-American and White) applicant for a vacant assembler position, and instead hired a White applicant. While the Agency asserted that Complainant was not promoted because he did not pass an annual physical fitness exam, Agency managers testified that the supervisory position would involve more administrative work than Complainant's position and there would not be a substantial change in the physical requirements. EEOC v. Yellow Transp. Defendants moved for dismissal arguing (1) Africa is not a nation and so cannot serve as the basis of a national origin claim, (2) EEOC failed to allege any shared cultural or linguistic characteristics between the aggrieved individuals so they could not constitute a protected class; and (3) the EEOC's retaliation claim must be dismissed because EEOC failed to allege protected activity or the Defendants had knowledge of the white supervisor's motivations. The decree also mandates training of employees and reporting to the EEOC any future complaints of race harassment. When the employee complained, she was told to "pray about it" or "leave" by the owner; the employee resigned. 26, 2016). Thank you to them and to my colleagues at the EEOC whose excellent work investigating and litigating the case made this important verdict possible.. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has asked a Colorado federal judge to alter a judgment, or at least grant a new trial, in its disability discrimination lawsuit against a Denver trucking company, arguing that a jury came to an illogical and unjust verdict. Several individuals complained to management, but their complaints were minimized or ignored, the complaint alleged. River View Coal LLC, a unit of Alliance Resource Partners LP, also will have to regularly report to the EEOC on its hiring practices for two years to escape the suit, which alleged that the company refused to hire a class of African-American applicants for coal mining jobs at its Waverly, Ky., location since 2008. The complainant resigned and was replaced by a White junior account manager who earned a higher base salary than complainant had ever earned as an account manager. In September 2019, a San Jose, California food producer and distributor paid $2 million to settle an EEOC race discrimination lawsuit, charging that the company refused to hire non-Hispanic applicants of all races, including Black, White and Asian applicants, for unskilled production warehouse positions because its affiliates preferred Hispanic job applicants. 09-5330 (E.D.N.Y. 15-3201 (7th Cir. The AJ awarded 28 months of back pay and 24 months of from pay; lost benefits; compensatory damages of $120,000 for physical and mental pain and suffering; and approximately $40,000 in attorney's fees and costs. White employees and managers regularly emailed racially derogatory jokes, cartoons, and other materials to coworkers, and posted racially offensive photographs on the bulletin board outside the human resources office. The EEOC had charged that Chapman's George L. Argyros School of Business & Economics (ASBE) discriminated against Stephanie Dellande, an assistant professor of marketing, because of her race. Instead, another employee informed complainant's supervisor about the comment, and the supervisor promptly looked into the matter. The court then reversed summary judgment and remanded the case for trial. In August 2015, Target Corp. settled for $2.8 million an EEOC charge that the retailer's former tests for hiring for professional jobs discriminated against applicants based on race, sex and disability. The 5-year consent decree. 22, 2012). In July 2017, the largest producer of farmed shellfish in the United States, paid $160,000 and implemented other relief to settle an EEOC lawsuit. Real EEOC Cases. According to the EEOC's lawsuit, from February 2017 to at least July 2018, Treatment Centers subjected a Substance Abuse Counselor Allen Parson and two other African American employees were repeatedly and openly subjected to racial slurs by several clients of the facility and race-based counselor assignments to accommodate White clients' racial preferences not to be assigned to Black counselors. The federal district court approved a two-year consent decree requiring the facility to provide training regarding anti-discrimination laws to all its employees; post a notice informing its employees of the consent decree; report to the EEOC any complaints of discrimination made by its employees; and take affirmative steps to recruit Asian nurses. In October 2008, a department store chain in Iowa entered a consent decree agreeing to pay $50,000 and to provide other affirmative relief. The AJ sanctioned the agency for failing to timely investigate the complaint. The EEOC ultimately found reasonable cause to believe that the county violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the harassment to which the former attorney was subjected. Female employees were subjected to offensive sexual comments and touching by managers and coworkers; Black employees to racially derogatory language, and directives to wait on customers that White employees refused to serve and to work in the smoking section; and a White employee to racially offensive language because of her association with a Black employee. June 20, 2017), reh'g en banc denied (7th Cir. An EEOC Administrative Judge's finding that a blanket policy excluding employees with Type I and II Diabetes adversely impacted African Americans and Native Americans resulted in a settlement and change in policy. This evidence included a White manager's statement that if the Black recommending official hired the Black aide based on her the strength of her interview and her demonstrated ability to interact and work one-on-one with clients, "people are going to think" nonetheless that she was selected "because she was Black." In November 2015, the judge awarded $50,515 in fees and $6,733.76 in costs to the EEOC because the "Defendants willfully violated the explicit terms of the Consent Decree and repeatedly failed to comply with it [.]" In August 2009, a Mississippi-based drilling company agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a Title VII lawsuit, alleging that four employees, three White and one Black, experienced racial harassment and retaliation while assigned to a remote drilling rig in Texas. 15-1055 (4th Cir. Specifically, the EEOC alleged that, in addition to paying them less and permitting a White manager to refer regularly to them with the N-word and other derogatory slurs, such as "boy," the company manipulated dosimeters of Black employees assigned to work with radioactive waste to show lower levels of radiation than the actual ones. 3:12-cv-3069(LTS) (N.D. Iowa consent decree granted June 24, 2013). 1:71-cv-02877(LAK)(MHD) (S.D.N.Y. It also decided, however, that a jury must determine if the three Black plaintiffs found the workplace subjectively offensive because, although their repeated complaints indicate they were offended, a jury must resolve factual issues raised by some co-workers' testimony that the plaintiffs actually did not seem bothered by the harasser's conduct. EEOC v. Torqued-Up Energy Services, Inc., No. "The number of cases filed by the EEOC increased in a respectable climb back to pre-pandemic levels, forecasting a busy year ahead for the Commission and employers in FY . In April 2016, the Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court in an employment discrimination case alleging race and age discrimination in violation of Title VII and the ADEA, respectively. 13-cv-6656 (N.D. Ill. decision filed Apr. 17-cv-70) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process. The EEOC filed suit against the company in September 2017, charging that Floyd's had engaged in race discrimination when a Floyd foreman repeatedly used the slur "n----r." After an African-American employee complained, the foreman angrily confronted him and rather than disciplining the harasser, the company transferred Woodall from his assignment as a backhoe operator to a less desirable job doing pick-and-shovel work in another state. One Rastafarian security officer objected to the supervisor's reaction and complained that he heard the supervisor had referred to the Rastafarians by the "N-word." EEOC v. Dolgencorp, LLC d/b/a Dollar General, No. An investigation by the EEOC's Minneapolis Area Office revealed that the mattress and box spring manufacturing company in St. Paul, Minn. subjected its Black and Hispanic employees to severe racial harassment in the form of KKK hoods, nooses, and racial slurs and jokes. In December 2018, Maritime Autowash (later known as Phase 2 Investments, Inc.) paid $300,000 in monetary relief and furnished equitable relief to settle an EEOC race and national origin discrimination lawsuit. In the consent decree, the pizzeria agreed to provide equal employment and hiring opportunities in all positions and Title VII training for supervisors, managers, and owners. Law360 (February 24, 2023, 4:10 PM EST) -- A Manhattan federal judge has ruled that a former boss in New York City's largest correction officers union should have his bribery sentence reduced and . In March 2006, a commercial coating company agreed to pay $1 million to settle an EEOC case that alleged that a Black employee was subjected to racially hostile environment that included frequent verbal and physical abuse that culminated in him being choked by a noose in the company bathroom until he lost consciousness. Sep. 21, 2010). In December 2012, Hamilton Growers, Inc., doing business as Southern Valley Fruit and Vegetable, Inc., an agricultural farm in Norman Park, Ga., agreed to pay $500,000 to a class of American seasonal workers - many of them African-American - who, the EEOC alleged, were subjected to discrimination based on their national origin and/or race, the agency announced today. The EEOC said Maritime required Hispanic workers to perform personal tasks for the owner and managers, such as routinely assigning the female Hispanic class members to clean the houses of the owner or manager and assigning the male Hispanics to perform duties at their homes, such as landscaping, cleaning the pool, picking up dog excrement, painting or helping with moves. The Commission also alleged that the company engaged in retaliation against workers who joined in the complaint. The Black manager had worked for U-Haul for ten years as a reservation manager, assistant manager, general manager, area field manager and field relief manager, and held a bachelor's degree in business management as well as having received various awards for performance. Workers Win Only 1% Of Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits At Trial An official website of the United States government. According to EEOC's lawsuit, Kimball applied for a vacant assembler job and interviewed with the company in January 2014. In October 2010, defendants, a Spring, Texas, new and used car dealership and its general partner, agreed to pay $160,000 and provide neutral references indicating their eligibility for rehire to a 50-year-old White male used car salesperson (Robinson) and a 50-year-old African American male used car salesperson (Cotton). This is definitely one reason organizations like to reach settlement out of court. That's our main finding after analyzing the outcomes of 683,419 discrimination cases filed with the U.S. In October 2015, a federal judge held that the operators of an Indianapolis Hampton Inn in contempt for failing to comply with five different conditions settling the EEOC's class race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against the companies. In April 2011, a provider of operational support software and back office services deployed by cable and broadband operators worldwide agreed to pay $60,000 to settle a race and national origin discrimination lawsuit. The consent decree also requires the pizzeria to keep records on information relevant to whether unlawful practices have been committed and its hiring data, and to submit reports to the EEOC on this information. How Much Money Is An Employment Discrimination Case Worth? - Forbes After firing several of the Black employees, the store manager resigned in protest and the general manager fired the remaining African American employees himself. In November 2007, a high-end suburban Illinois retirement facility agreed to pay $125,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit alleging that it terminated its director of nursing, because of her national origin (Filipino) and race (Asian).
