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:
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)
- The Pregnancy Discrimination Act
- The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2022 (PWFA)
- The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA)
- The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
- Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
- Sections 102 and 103 of the Civil Rights Act of 1991
- Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
- The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA)
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
Allegations
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Laws Involved
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
State
Georgia
Summary
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, CPG Staffing and Executive Personnel rescinded a welding applicant’s job offer after learning that he had injured his knee two years prior.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 CPG Staffing, in turn, rescinded the applicant’s job offer.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
Allegations
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment; Retaliation
Laws Involved
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
State
Texas
Summary
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
Allegations
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Laws Involved
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
State
Washington
Summary
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
Allegations
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment; Retaliation
Laws Involved
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
State
California
Summary
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.
Maryland: Maryland Department of Health’s Thomas B. Finan Center to Pay $270,000 in EEOC Sex Discrimination Lawsuit
Allegations
Equal pay
Laws Involved
Equal Pay Act of 1963
State
Maryland
Summary
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, for several years up to the present, Finan paid a less tenured and less experienced male recreation therapist higher wages than it paid to his four female counterparts, even though the females had greater experience in the job. Their requests to Finan to equalize their pay were ignored.
North Carolina: Enforge, LLC to Pay $35,000 in EEOC Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Suit
Allegations
Sex discrimination; Sexual harassment; Retaliation
Laws Involved
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
State
North Carolina
Summary
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.
