Each month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) files lawsuits and settles cases covering the federal laws they are responsible for enforcing. These federal laws include:
Below is a list of lawsuits and settlements by the EEOC in from December 1 to 15, 2024.
EEOC Lawsuits
Georgia: EEOC Sues CPG Staffing and Executive Personnel Group for Disability Discrimination
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, CPG Staffing and Executive Personnel rescinded a welding applicant’s job offer after learning that he had injured his knee two years prior. Before disclosing the prior injury, from which he had completely recovered, the applicant successfully passed a welding test. The welding test involved climbing ladders and crouching and crawling on beams. Shortly thereafter, the applicant disclosed in a post-offer medical questionnaire that he had previously been treated for a knee injury he suffered while working a prior job. He also indicated he could perform the essential duties of the welder job and did not require a reasonable accommodation. The applicant then provided a letter from his physician clearing him to work. Yet, Executive Personnel’s risk manager instructed CPG Staffing not to hire the applicant because of his prior injury. CPG Staffing, in turn, rescinded the applicant’s job offer.
Texas: EEOC Sues Pizza Hut for Sex-Based Harassment and Retaliation
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment; Retaliation
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
According to the EEOC, the employee was harassed by her immediate supervisor after she attempted to break off their personal relationship. Upon the termination of their relationship, the supervisor refused to provide the employee with sufficient product, labor and services to her store. The employee notified human resources about her supervisor’s inappropriate behavior, and she was assigned to work under another supervisor. Approximately two weeks later, she was presented with multiple writeups and terminated, the EEOC said, in retaliation for opposing what she believed to be unlawful discrimination.
Washington: EEOC Sues Alto Experience, Inc. for Disability Discrimination
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
According to the lawsuit, Alto refused to hire qualified deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals for its personal driver position, despite the ready availability of technological accommodations, and, in some instances, despite previous experience as drivers for other ride-hailing companies. The EEOC also alleged that some qualified deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals who were denied accommodations or employment as personal drivers were steered into in less-desirable car washing positions. During the hiring process, Alto also failed to provide communications accommodations, such as American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, the EEOC said.
EEOC Settlements
California: Phone Retailer to Pay $107,916 in EEOC Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment; Retaliation
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
According to the EEOC’s complaint, a teenage female store employee of Elite Wireless faced sexual harassment, including repeated unwelcome advances and requests for sex, from a sales manager in 2017. The sales manager later sexually assaulted the employee at a holiday party and Elite Wireless failed to act on reports of the harassment and permitted the sales manager to continue working with the employee, even after she filed a criminal complaint against him. In 2019, Wireless World purchased Elite Wireless and became liable for that company’s failures, the EEOC charged.
North Carolina: Enforge, LLC to Pay $35,000 in EEOC Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Suit
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment; Retaliation
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Sureste violated federal law when it fired its first and only Black project development manager because of his race. The project development manager performed well, despite being assigned more work than his white counterparts, but the company terminated him less than a year after his hire, claiming first that he was “lazy” and not a good fit for the company’s “culture.” Later, the company claimed that his role had been eliminated, but less than a month after firing him, Sureste promoted a significantly less-qualified white employee to the same position.
