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 August 16 to August 31, 2024.
EEOC Lawsuits
Indiana: EEOC Sues GEM Management For Sexual Harassment
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, GEM Management knew its Stanford, Kentucky site manager reported being sexually harassed, but failed to address it, instead directing the employee to continue working with her harasser. This conduct created a hostile work environment and led the employee to resign.
Georgia: EEOC Sues Mia Aesthetics for Disability Discrimination
Disability discrimination
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
According to the lawsuit, a surgical sales coordinator diagnosed with breast cancer requested to telework for approximately three months while she underwent chemotherapy treatments, and she provided medical documentation supporting her request. In-person attendance was not an essential function of the sales coordinator position, but Mia Aesthetics refused to provide telework as an accommodation.
Instead, Mia Aesthetics offered only an ineffective “accommodation” of a part-time front desk position, which would have decreased the surgical sales coordinator’s earnings and subjected her to increased person-to-person contact. Mia Aesthetics then terminated the surgical sales coordinator’s employment when she did not accept the in-person front desk role—even though she could have performed the essential functions of the sales coordinator role from home. Shortly after firing the surgical sales coordinator, Mia Aesthetics replaced her with a fully remote surgical sales coordinator.
North Carolina: EEOC Sues Wilson Logistics for Violating the Americans with Disabilities Act
Disability discrimination
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
According to the lawsuit filed today, the job applicant called Wilson Logistics seeking work as a truck driver. He possessed a commercial driver’s license, had relevant experience and had been granted an exemption from regulatory hearing requirements by the U.S. Department of Transportation. When the applicant spoke to Wilson through a video relay service, the company’s representative told him he could not bring somebody in who does not read, write, and speak English. He further told him the company does not hire individuals who communicate through sign language.
Washington: EEOC Sues Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. for Sexual Harassment
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
According to the lawsuit, since at least 2017, a male employee at the Richland, Washington, location repeatedly subjected his female coworkers to sexual harassment, including wolf-whistling, leering, and degrading sexual comments about their bodies and appearance, as well as groping one female co-worker in the workplace. He also followed female employees around the store and into the company’s parking lot after their shifts, and attempted to follow one female employee with his car as she left the company’s parking lot. Several female employees complained about harassment by this male employee to their managers and to Fred Meyer’s HR department. Fred Meyer eventually issued warnings to the male employee, but permitted him to continue harassing his female coworkers for years, until it finally terminated him in 2021.
EEOC Settlements
Alabama: Hank’s Furniture to Pay $110,000 in EEOC Religious Discrimination Lawsuit
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
According to the lawsuit, a former assistant manager at HFI’s Pensacola, Florida, location notified the company that her religious beliefs prevented her from receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Rather than discuss the employee’s religious beliefs to determine the feasibility of an accommodation, management ignored accommodation requests then summarily denied the employee’s requests and attempted to dispute the validity of her sincerely-held religious beliefs.
California: Fremont Contractor to Settle EEOC Harassment Charge
Sex discrimination; Sexual orientation discrimination; gender identity discrimination
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
The worker, who is openly transgender and identifies as queer, filed a charge with EEOC alleging his supervisors and coworkers targeted him with verbal harassment and physical threats due to his gender identity and sexual orientation. He also alleged that he was transferred to new worksites in retaliation for reporting the harassment, and ultimately was constructively discharged because he did not feel safe enough to return to work. The EEOC’s investigation found evidence confirming the alleged harassment and that, despite the worker’s reports of harassment, Superior Automatic Sprinkler Company failed to act appropriately.
California: Select Staffing to Pay $500,000 in EEOC Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment; Retaliation
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965
The EEOC lawsuit charged that female workers placed by Select Staffing to work at a National Raisin production facility were subjected to a sexually hostile work environment and retaliation. Despite onsite supervision from Select Staffing, widespread harassment of female workers by managers and employees alike went unaddressed by the staffing agency, the EEOC said. The harassment included frequent unwanted groping, sexually explicit comments, requests for sexual favors, and retaliatory termination following complaints of harassment. The lawsuit also charged that Select Staffing failed to take appropriate corrective measures after receiving complaints about the harassment, instead assuming the client National Raisin would respond, the EEOC charged.
Missouri: Dollar General to Pay $295,000 in EEOC Age Discrimination and Retaliation Lawsuit
Age discrimination; Retaliation
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
According to the lawsuit, from July 2016 until January 2018, a newly hired Dollar General regional director in Oklahoma harassed district managers who were in their 50s and older by calling them “grumpy old men,” telling them he was building “a millennial team” and they needed “young blood” in the stores, and threatening them to keep up with the “millennial team” or quit or be fired.
After one of the district managers quit and reported the harassment to the company, Dollar General sought feedback from the district managers about the new regional director but did not investigate reports of age discrimination. Emboldened, the regional director continued harassing older workers and fired two district managers in retaliation for reporting his misconduct. Eventually another district manager was forced to quit because of the continual harassment.
Louisiana: EEOC Sues X-Treme Tech Services for Sexual Harassment and Retaliation
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment; Retaliation
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965
According to the lawsuit, the female employee was an administrative assistant for X-Treme Tech and her supervisor repeatedly and persistently subjected her to unwelcome sexual advances. His conduct included sending her numerous sexually explicit text messages and images, commenting on her body, touching her inappropriately, attempting to her kiss her, and propositioning her for sex. After she repeatedly declined his advances, he became unfairly critical of her work and fired her.
New Jersey: Hatzel & Buehler to Pay $500,000 to Settle EEOC Age Discrimination Suit
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, since at least November 2020, the vice president of Hatzel & Buehler’s New Jersey branch engaged in age discriminatory recruiting and hiring practices when he requested that recruiting companies seek out younger project manager and estimator candidates for job opportunities and then refused to hire older workers because they did not fall within his desired age range. The EEOC’s lawsuit also alleged that the same vice president failed to retain job applicant and hiring-related records in violation of federal law.
North Carolina: Walmart Agrees to Pay $75,000 in EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit
Disability discrimination; Retaliation
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
According to the lawsuit, an employee working for a Walmart’s distribution center in Fayetteville, North Carolina, experienced the onset of severe pain due to a neurological disability affecting her right hand and wrist. The employee applied for intermittent leave as a reasonable accommodation but the accommodation was denied. Walmart told the employee she could not return to work unless she provided a full medical release saying she could work without restrictions. Frustrated by Walmart’s continued refusal to allow her to return to work, the employee made an internal complaint to the company’s Global Ethics Office. Walmart fired her nine days later.
Texas: Altman Specialty Plants to Pay $172,000 to Conciliate EEOC Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Charges
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment; Retaliation
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
The conciliation follows an EEOC investigation into charges where EEOC found that an Altman supervisor subjected female employees to sexual harassment and a sexually hostile work environment for an extensive period at its Austin, Texas location.
The investigation further revealed that after complaining about sexual harassment, the employees were retaliated against, thereby creating a chilling effect making Altman’s EEO policies and complaint procedures ineffective. Such alleged conduct is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination, including sexual harassment, based on sex and retaliation for engaging in a protected activity.
Texas: Third Bench Holdings to Pay $165,000 in EEOC Retaliation Lawsuit
National origin discrimination; Retaliation
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the general manager complained that a company official discriminated against her based on what she believed to be her Hispanic national origin. In response to her complaint, the human resources director investigated the complaint, including interviewing the employee’s husband, who worked with the same company.
The suit said that one day after the investigation began, the general manager was demoted and her husband was fired. Shortly thereafter, the human resources director reported concerns about retaliatory treatment by the same company official who was the subject of the complaints. After she reported to higher management, the human resources director was then also fired, the EEOC said.
