New York Paralegal Blog

  Frontier Hot-Dip Galvanizing, a steel galvanizing business in Buffalo, New York, will pay $360,000 and implement significant changes to their workplace as part of a settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The lawsuit, filed by the EEOC, accused Frontier of subjecting Black temporary and permanent workers to severe race and national origin-based harassment. This included the regular use of offensive racial slurs and a work environment covered in racist graffiti. Even after complaints were made, the company allegedly failed to address the hostile environment. Instead, when two workers complained and then filed charges with the EEOC, Frontier reportedly threatened and fired them. Such actions are a direct violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees from discrimination and retaliation based on race and national origin. What Does the Settlement Mean? Beyond the $360,000 in financial relief, the settlemen...

ATLANTA - Hamilton Growers, Inc., doing business as Southern Valley Fruit and Vegetable, Inc., an agricultural farm in Norman Park, Ga., has agreed to pay $500,000 to a class of American seasonal workers - many of them African-American - who, the EEOC alleged, were subjected to discrimination based on their national origin and/or race, the agency announced today. The agreement resolves a lawsuit filed by the EEOC in September 2011.

CHICAGO – The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced on 5/6/2011 that a federal judge has entered a $195,000 consent decree to resolve a national origin harassment lawsuit brought by the agency against the Hilton Lisle/Naperville Hotel in Lisle, Ill. In its lawsuit, EEOC charged that the Hilton Lisle/Naperville violated federal law by subjecting Hispanic employees in the hotel kitchen to offensive comments. Specifically, the EEOC charged that the hotel’s executive chef regularly referred to Hispanic employees as “s--cs” and “wetbacks.” National origin discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit, captioned EEOC v. Fireside West, LLC d/b/a Hilton Lisle/Naperville , No. 09 cv-5979, on Sept. 28, 2009 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The three-year consent decree resolving the suit, a...

FRESNO, Calif. – Sam’s Club, the wholesale chain store owned and operated by Walmart, will pay $440,000 and furnish other relief to settle a national origin harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC contends that at least nine employees of Mexican descent at the Sam’s Club in Fresno, along with one who was married to a Mexican, endured ethnic slurs and derogatory remarks by a fellow co-worker who is Mexican-American. Since late 2005, the victims were barraged with near-daily insults about Mexicans such as “f----n’ wetbacks,” and references to Mexicans only being good for cleaning the harasser’s home, according to the EEOC. The harasser even threatened to report three of the victims to immigration authorities despite their legal status. The victims and harasser – all female – worked in the demonstration department, serving food samples to customers. The victims complained about the hostile work environme...

ATLANTA – Integrated Broadband Services, a provider of operational support software and back office services deployed by cable and broadband operators worldwide, will pay $60,000 to settle a race and national origin discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. In its lawsuit, filed on Sept. 28, 2010, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division (Case No.: 1:10-CV-03106), the EEOC charged that a black Tanzanian network analyst was fired for leaving work 30 minutes early. However, a similarly situated white network analyst received only a written discipline after leaving work two hours early, twice in one week.