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 April 1 to April 15, 2025.
- EEOC Lawsuits
- Illinois: EEOC Files Agency’s First Subpoena Enforcement Action Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
- North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia: Male Job Seekers Not Hired by Kickback Jack’s Restaurants May Have Suffered Discrimination, EEOC Says
- Pennsylvania: EEOC Sues Support Center for Child Advocates for Pregnancy Discrimination
- EEOC Settlements
- California: Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center to Pay $195,000 to Settle EEOC Equal Pay Charge
- Florida: Amelia Springs to Pay $20,000 in EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit
- Georgia: Reliable Maintenance Solutions to Pay $25,000 and Undertake Remedial Measures in EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit
- Kansas: Chipotle to Pay $20,000 in EEOC Religious Harassment Lawsuit
- Maryland: Kurt Bluemel Inc. to Pay $40,000 in EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Suit
- New Mexico: Allen Theatres to Pay $250,000 in EEOC Class Age Discrimination Lawsuit Involving Health Benefit Plan
EEOC Lawsuits
Illinois: EEOC Files Agency’s First Subpoena Enforcement Action Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Allegations
Pregnancy discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Laws Involved
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)
State
Illinois
Summary
The EEOC is investigating a charge of discrimination filed by a driver working for R&L Carriers in Matteson, Illinois. The driver alleges that R&L Carriers discriminated against her based on her sex, failed to reasonably accommodate her pregnancy-related restrictions, and placed her on involuntary unpaid leave.
North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia: Male Job Seekers Not Hired by Kickback Jack’s Restaurants May Have Suffered Discrimination, EEOC Says
Allegations
Sex discrimination
Laws Involved
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
State
North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
Summary
On Sept. 25, 2024, the EEOC filed a lawsuit in federal court in Greensboro, N.C. against Battleground Restaurants, Inc., and Battleground Restaurant Group, Inc., doing business as Kickback Jack’s, for failing or refusing to hire male applicants who applied to non-managerial front-of-house positions, including server, bartender and host/hostess positions, since December 2019. These alleged employment practices violate federal civil rights laws.
Pennsylvania: EEOC Sues Support Center for Child Advocates for Pregnancy Discrimination
Allegations
Sex discrimination; Pregnancy discrimination
Laws Involved
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act; Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA)
State
Pennsylvania
Summary
According to the lawsuit, the employee, a social worker, sought to limit her exposure to COVID-19 by working at home except for home visits and court appointments. SCCA granted this same accommodation to her non-pregnant co-worker, the agency alleges. Due to the threat to her health, the social worker was forced to resign.
EEOC Settlements
California: Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center to Pay $195,000 to Settle EEOC Equal Pay Charge
Allegations
Sex discrimination; Equal pay
Laws Involved
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
State
California
Summary
In July 2023, a female physician assistant filed an EEOC charge of discrimination alleging that she was consistently paid at a lower rate of pay than a male nurse practitioner, despite the fact that he had no prior experience as a nurse practitioner. The EEOC’s investigation found reasonable cause to establish that from approximately April 2022 through August 2023, she and two other women were paid less than the male employee for performing substantially equal job duties.
Florida: Amelia Springs to Pay $20,000 in EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit
Allegations
Sex discrimination; Pregnancy discrimination
Laws Involved
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act; Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA)
State
Florida
Summary
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, as soon as Amelia Springs Assisted Living management learned that one of their temporary staffers was pregnant, they refused to give her more shifts and fired her.
Georgia: Reliable Maintenance Solutions to Pay $25,000 and Undertake Remedial Measures in EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit
Allegations
Disability discrimination; Reasonable Accommodations
Laws Involved
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
State
Georgia
Summary
The EEOC charged that, in March 2021, Reliable refused to hire an experienced applicant for a heavy equipment operation position because of his disability. The applicant is a right-arm amputee with years of work experience operating dump trucks, and he was working as a dump truck operator at the time of his application to Reliable. According to the lawsuit, the company interviewed the applicant for the position and assured him that his status as an amputee would not be an impediment to his hiring. Although the applicant then successfully completed safety training, the lawsuit alleges Reliable claimed at least one of its clients was uncomfortable with an amputee being employed as a heavy equipment operator, and so the applicant was not hired.
Kansas: Chipotle to Pay $20,000 in EEOC Religious Harassment Lawsuit
Allegations
Religion discrimination
Laws Involved
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
State
Kansas
Summary
The EEOC suit alleged that in July 2021, at a Lenexa, Kansas, Chipotle restaurant, a supervisor began harassing one of his employees because of her religion. The employee, a teenager at the time, is a devout Muslim and wears a hijab head covering in observance of her faith. Her supervisor repeatedly asked her to remove her hijab and expose her hair. She rebuffed the requests and explained the religious significance of the hijab. Then, on Aug. 9, 2021, after again pressuring her to take off her hijab, the supervisor grabbed her head scarf and partially removed it himself. She immediately reported the incident, and tendered her two weeks’ notice the next day, the EEOC said.
Maryland: Kurt Bluemel Inc. to Pay $40,000 in EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Suit
Allegations
Sex discrimination; Pregnancy discrimination
Laws Involved
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act; Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)
State
Maryland
Summary
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a pregnant worker who had been employed by the company since 2017 requested maternity leave in September 2023, with the expectation that she would return to work after giving birth. When she attempted to return to work in December 2023, she was told that no work was available. However, the employer hired new, non-pregnant employes before and after her attempted return, the EEOC said.
New Mexico: Allen Theatres to Pay $250,000 in EEOC Class Age Discrimination Lawsuit Involving Health Benefit Plan
Allegations
Age discrimination
Laws Involved
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
State
New Mexico
Summary
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Allen Theatres’ president forced Abby Parrish, who had been a theater manager for 31 years in Clovis, New Mexico, to retire in September 2020 because he was 73 years old. The company refused to allow him to work in March 2021 when the theaters reopened after COVID.
The agency also alleged Allen Theatres had a companywide discriminatory compensation policy that stopped paying for Parrish’s family health insurance coverage because he was over 65 years old and eligible for Medicare.
This same discriminatory pay policy resulted in Allen Theatres paying less compensation to a class of employees, age 65 and over, including Charles Green, director of IT for the company in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
