Firm to Pay $800,000 to Settle Multiple EEOC Discrimination Claims

Another example it is cheaper to educate than litigate.

A Chicago-area agency will pay $800,000 under a consent decree resolving two discrimination lawsuits filed by the U.S. EqualEmployment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced 5/11/2015. (EEOC v. Source One Staffing, Inc.,Civil Action Nos. 11-cv-06754 & 15-cv-01958).

The EEOC’s two lawsuits alleged multiple violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the ADA. Specifically, the EEOCcharged that the agency engaged in the following unlawful conduct: the agency – 1) assigned female employees to a knownhostile work environment; 2) retaliated against two female employees who reported that their supervisor was making sexualadvances toward them; 3) categorized jobs as “men’s work” or “women’s work” and assigned employees accordingly; 4) askedimpermissible pre-employment medical questions in violation of the ADA; and 5) failed or refused to assign employees to certainjobs because of their race and/or national origin. The decree also requires agency to take the following affirmative steps: 1)train its employees on employees’ rights under Title VII and the ADA; 2) report complaints of discrimination during the decree’sthree-year term; 3) change its employment policies and practices to conform to the ADA and Title VII; and 4) post a notice ofthe decree at all of its locations. Finally, agency’s compliance with decree will overseen by an independent monitor.

The director of the EEOC’s Chicago District Office, said, “The EEOC determined that [the agency] violated federal anti-discrimination law in multiple ways, which was alarming, and clearly required serious EEOC action. Further, . . . agencies mustunderstand that they are not immune from enforcement of federal anti-discrimination laws. This decree sends a strong signalto other . . . agencies that if they engage in discrimination – especially several different kinds of it — it will come at a high cost.”