The federal agency also reviewed the company's broader policy with respect to the hiring of job applicants with conviction records. Studies of verdicts have shown that about 10% of wrongful termination cases result in a verdict of $1 million or more. The company will also provide employee training designed to prevent future discrimination and harassment on the job. Several individuals complained to management, but their complaints were minimized or ignored, the complaint alleged. The prison officer job would have meant the Hispanic employee would have had as much or greater authority as her current supervisor. consent decree filed Sep. 8, 2015). In February 2012, the owners of Piggly Wiggly supermarkets in Hartsville and Lafayette, Tenn., agreed to pay $40,000 to settle a race and gender discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC. In June 2010, the EEOC obtained a ruling by the Ninth Circuit that permits the Commission to pursue injunctive relief to stop a coal company mining in the Navajo Nation from discriminating in employment against non-Navajo Indians. In May 2009, a Statesville, NC grocery store agreed to settle for $30,000 a lawsuit alleging that it had fired a White, non-Hispanic meat cutter based on his race and national origin and replaced him with a less-qualified Hispanic employee. In February 2009, a discount retail chain agreed to pay $7,500 to resolve an EEOC lawsuit alleging that Title VII was violated when a light skinned Black female manager subjected darker skinned African American employees to a hostile and abusive work environment because of their color. The settlement provides monetary relief to 19 persons who filed charges with the agency and other American workers harmed by the practices. In February 2020, the EEOCs Office of Federal Operation (OFO) found that the Department of Veteran Affairs engaged in race and age discrimination when it did not select a Registered Nurse (RN) at the Murfreesboro VA Medical Center facility in Tennessee for the position of Nurse Manager, Specialty Clinics. EEOC Accuses Va. Hospital System Of . The lawsuit alleged that a White male store manager ordered all the African American employees to be strip-searched in response to a White cashier's drawer turning up $100 short. Testimony in the record showed that the approving official was biased against those of complainant's race, particularly males. EEOC v. Wells Fargo Financial Michigan, Inc., Case No. Cal. In September 2010, EEOC sued the largest private university in the United States and one of New York City's ten biggest employers for allegedly violating federal law by creating a hostile work environment for an African-born employee that included degrading verbal harassment based on national origin and race. 2887 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. In March 2007, EEOC reached a $60,000 settlement in its Title VII lawsuit against Stock Building Supply d/b/a Stuart Lumber alleging that defendant did not give Charging Party a salary increase when he was promoted to a managerial position while White employees who were promoted were given salary increases. In September 2010, the EEOC commenced a lawsuit against a giant shipping and delivery service for subjecting a class of African-American employees to different job assignments because of their race. When the supervisor was unable to establish who made the comment, he convened all the welders and threatened disciplinary action if the term was used again. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a suit filed Friday. According to the EEOC's suit, Black employees were subjected to racial slurs and other racially offensive comments by their White supervisor, at U-Haul's Memphis facility. Neither the White coworker nor the supervisors who witnessed the racial incidents were disciplined. Tenn. Sep. 12, 2012). In June 2010, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a Kansas-based national employment staffing firm settled for $125,000 a case on behalf of a White, 55-year-old former employee who allegedly was treated less favorably than younger Black colleagues and fired when she complained. The EEOC asserted that Williams Country Sausage gave raises and paid higher salaries to all maintenance department employees except the department's lone African-American employee and allegedly allowed a supervisor to regularly use racially offensive language toward the employee because of racial animus. Disability Discrimination Cases That Set Legal Precedents - DoNotPay Valuing settlement offers. The EEOC charged that Black entertainers were subjected to a variety of less advantageous terms and conditions of employment than White ones. The EEOC alleged that the Defendants, a health care management system and nursing home discriminated against African employees, specifically employees from Ethiopia and Sudan, when it terminated four personal care providers all on the same day, allegedly for failing to pass a newly instituted written exam. According to the EEOC, shortly before the 2008 presidential election, Titan's facility manager terminated Brooks without cause after discussing the upcoming election with him. The EEOC alleged in a December 2017 complaint that the rent-to-own furniture chain subjected Black employees at a Queens, N.Y., warehouse to racist name-calling by two managers. The EEOC filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of the pro se plaintiff, a 65-year old white female front desk clerk, who repeatedly had been told she was "too old" and "the wrong color" by the hotel general manager who terminated her. Official websites use .gov The three employees worked in the supply chain department at SFI and allegedly had no performance issues before their discharges. Ala. Feb. 27, 2014). Specifically, the EEOC's lawsuit alleged that the company's foreman and other Emmert employees repeatedly harassed two employees, one African American and the other Caucasian, while working on the Odd Fellows Hall project in Salt Lake City. 2:11-cv-06183 (E.D. In December 2012, EEOC and a North Carolina printing firm settled for $334,000 a lawsuit alleging the firm violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by not placing non-Hispanic workers in its "core group" of regular temporary workers who perform the company's light bindery production jobs and giving disproportionately more work hours to Hispanic workers. The EEOC also found that the company retaliated against employees who complained about the harassment or discrimination. 11th Circ. Won't Revive Fla. Ex-Police Chief's Retaliation Suit Specifically, the Commission argued that the employer's application of its grooming policy to prohibit dreadlocks discriminates on the immutable trait of racial hair texture, violates the fundamental right to freedom of racial expression, and promotes unlawful racial stereotyping. In addition to the monetary settlement, the company agreed to hire an external monitor and implement hiring goals and measures to ensure hiring transparency and diversification. 15-11850 (11th Cir. 4:14-cv-03588 (Apr. In May 2009 a North Carolina-based restaurant entered a three-year consent decree to pay $14,700 and provide a positive letter of reference for the claimant. In addition, the company must provide training in its policies on hiring, promotion, transfer, and co-employment. In September 2007, EEOC upheld an Administrative Judge's (AJ) default judgment in favor of complainant, a Staff Nurse Supervisor, who had alleged race discrimination when she was not selected for a Nurse Manager position. According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Prewett and Desoto supervisors and managers subjected African American employees to daily harassment and humiliation because of their race by calling them racially offensive and derogatory names and assigned Black employees the more dangerous job duties. In its complaint, the EEOC alleged that the managers of the company not only knew about the harassment and took no action to stop or prevent it, but also that a manager was one of the perpetrators of the harassment. In June 2016, a Minnesota-based Regis Corporation, which does business as Smart Style Family Hair Salon, paid $90,000 to resolve allegations of retaliation discrimination. In June 2009, a federal district court granted summary judgment for a Michigan-based freight and trucking company on all race discrimination claims asserted by the EEOC and the claimant. The consent decree permanently enjoins the company from discriminating against employees on the basis of race and requires the company to enact a graffiti abatement policy and undergo annual reviews of its compliance for two years EEOC v. Rock-Tenn Services Co., No. Ruling on EEOC's motion for partial summary judgment, the court said the company's admissions that site superintendent/project manager referred to three Black plaintiff-intervenors as "nigger" or "nigga" on a near-daily basis and told racial jokes using those terms and other offensive epithets establishes an objective racially hostile work environment. Check DoNotPay's Ranking of EEOC Discrimination Cases Won al, No. 2:11-CV-00920CW (D. Ariz. Jan. 7, 2013). In November 2008, a popular pizzeria based in Ferndale, Mich. agreed to pay $20,000 to resolve an EEOC lawsuit alleging that the pizzeria violated federal law when it told two qualified Black job seekers for waitress positions, one of whom is African and spoke with an accent, on two separate occasions that it had run out of applications but hired a White applicant as a waitress later the same day without requiring her to fill out an application. The Commission also noted that the agency did not produce any rating sheets from the interview panel, and that complainant appeared to possess similar qualifications to the other selectees. According to the EEOC, the same supervisor hung a troll doll painted black with a Post-it affixed to the doll that read, "Clint King." In November 2014, Battaglia Distributing Corporation paid $735,000 to a group of current and former African-American employees. The EEOC will monitor the companys compliance with the agreement. EEOC v. McCormick & Schmick's Restaurant Corp, No. EEOC v. Catastrophe Mgmt. Of those 88 employees, 70 were Black. 131 M Street, NE After one of the women complained, her hours were cut and she was eventually terminated. The EEOC's lawsuit alleged that the company discriminated against Mohammad Kaleemuddin because he is of the Islamic faith and of East Indian descent, and against 13 other employees because they are Black or Hispanic when a supervisor referred to Kaleemuddin as "terrorist," "Taliban," "Osama" and "Al-Qaeda," to the Black employees as "n----s" and to Hispanics as "f-----g Mexicans." 21-1499. Ultimately, both Black employees were terminated, but the EEOC asserted that one of the employees was discharged for an infraction for which non-Black employees were not disciplined, while the other was discharged after relaying his intention to file a charge of discrimination to the company. In addition, the company must revise its complaint mechanism and clarify and expand its website and toll-free phone number for the reporting of incidents of employment discrimination. Pursuant to a three-year consent decree, the university also will improve and implement university-wide enhanced policies and complaint procedures; designate an EEO coordinator to monitor NYU's compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws; conduct in-person, comprehensive EEO training sessions for employees, supervisors, and HR staff; and maintain records of its responses to future employee complaints of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. even though the relevant union local is not a party to the suit. The settlement this month between the U.S. Ark.Apr. Emmert's foreman and employees regularly used the "n-word," called the Black employee "boy," called the White employee a "n---- lover," and made racial jokes and comments. The company will also provide a neutral reference letter to the terminated employee. The court then reversed summary judgment and remanded the case for trial. According to the EEOC, evidence at trial indicated that a White supervisor used "the N word" in reference to Black employees, called male Black employees "motherfucking boys," posted racially tinged materials in an employee break room, and accused Black employees of "always stealing and wanting welfare." In addition to paying $600,000, the three-year consent decree settling the lawsuit also requires Bankers Asset Management to hold a mandatory, annual three-hour training on race discrimination and retaliation in which its president or another officer participates, among other provisions. Ex-Medical Co. Worker Can't Revive ADA Suit, 11th Circ. The Agency failed to inform the Commission what, if any, final disciplinary action was issued against the coworker. According to the EEOC's lawsuit, a supervisor at Arizona Discount Movers frequently made racist comments to an African American employee named Clinton Lee. The supervisor also allegedly threatened Robinson, that he would "get back at" him for the "terrible things whites had done to blacks" in the past and allegedly berated him for being "too old" for the job and "washed up" in the industry. However, none of the lawsuits filed in January were publicized. 1:10-cv-1234 (S.D. Workers Win Only 1% Of Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits At Trial 1:11-cv-04741 (E.D.N.Y. In January 2010, a Georgia car dealership agreed to pay $140,000 to settle a race discrimination suit. In May 2019, a Mississippi federal court jury yesterday returned a verdict in favor of the EEOC and five Black dancers who were subjected to egregious race discrimination while employed by Danny's of Jackson, LLC (Danny's), doing business as Danny's Downtown Cabaret, a Jackson, Mississippi night club. Despite at least eight years of efforts by the EEOC, which included two EEOC charges, three prior lawsuits and contempt proceedings and three consent decrees Danny's continued to discriminate against the dancers. In addition to prohibiting race discrimination and retaliation against Black employees at YRC's Chicago Heights facility, the decree also requires YRC to provide all Chicago Heights employees annual training on racial harassment and race discrimination and engage a Work Assignment Consultant and a Disciplinary Practice Consultant to assist it in reviewing and revising the company's work assignment and disciplinary policies and practices at the Chicago facility.