Companies Refused to Hire Black Applicants and Retaliated Against Employees and Former Employees for Opposing the Discrimination, Federal Agency Charged LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A group of real estate brokerage and management companies based in Little Rock and Memphis violated federal law by refusing to hire a class of black applicants because of their race and retaliating against employees and former employees for opposing the discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed on December 30. The EEOC’s suit, Civil Action No. 4:10-CV-002070-SWW, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Western Division, asserted that Crye-Leike, Inc. and Crye-Leike of Arkansas, Inc., doing business as Bankers Asset Management, shunned numerous black applicants for jobs at the companies’ Little Rock location based upon their race.