New York Paralegal Blog

Experiencing discrimination at work can be incredibly stressful, but thankfully, there are legal protections in place. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency responsible for enforcing laws against workplace discrimination. When an employee files a complaint, the EEOC investigates to see if there's a valid case. The Conciliation Process: A Chance to Settle Before heading to court, the EEOC tries to resolve the issue through a process called conciliation. Think of it as a formal mediation. The goal is for the employer and the employee to reach a voluntary agreement to settle the case. This agreement, known as a conciliation agreement, outlines what the employer must do to remedy the situation. This can include things like paying a financial settlement, changing company policies, or providing back pay. It's a way for all parties to avoid a potentially long and costly legal battle. When an Agreement is Broken A recent lawsuit again...

LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that SDS Fontana Holdings, Inc., which formerly did business as Scully Distribution Services, will pay $630,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit which alleged widespread harassment and discrimination against a class of African-American, Latino and East Indian workers, mostly truck drivers, in Northern and Southern California.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - US Foods, Inc., formerly known as U.S. Foodservice, Inc., a Rosemont, Ill.-based food product distributor, will pay $165,000 and furnish other relief to settle a race discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

CHICAGO - A Tampa-based environmental clean-up company has agreed to pay $2.75 million and enter into a three-year nationwide consent decree to resolve a race discrimination case brought the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

CHICAGO – An $11 million consent decree entered here today in federal court has ended the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) race harassment and discrimination lawsuit against a major transportation company. Magistrate Judge Susan E. Cox granted preliminary approval of the decree.

Company’s Former Use of Criminal Background Checks Discriminated Based On Race, Agency Found MINNEAPOLIS – Pepsi Beverages (Pepsi), formerly known as Pepsi Bottling Group, has agreed to pay $3.13 million and provide job offers and training to resolve a charge of race discrimination filed in the Minneapolis Area Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The monetary settlement will primarily be divided among black applicants for positions at Pepsi, with a portion of the sum being allocated for the administration of the claims process. Based on the investigation, the EEOC found reasonable cause to believe that the criminal background check policy formerly used by Pepsi discriminated against African Americans in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

PHILADELPHIA –Matrix, L.L.C., one of the region’s largest cleaning companies, will pay $450,000 to a class of 15 former employees and provide significant relief to settle a race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. In the lawsuit, the EEOC alleged that Matrix officials told white supervisor Barbara Palermi not to hire any more black cleaners to work at a client’s site in Concordville, Pa. When Palermi hired additional black cleaners based on their qualifications to do the job, Matrix dismissed her in retaliation for opposing the company’s racial discrimination. The EEOC alleged that Matrix management officials also discriminated against the African-American cleaners, telling them to sit in the back of the cafeteria during break times and later disallowing them from using the cafeteria at all for their breaks. Matrix later fired all of the employees at the worksite and replaced them with ...

ATLANTA – In an employment discrimination lawsuit it recently filed, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged that Cadillac Jack, Inc., a supplier of innovative games and systems to the global gaming industry in Duluth, Ga., violated federal law when it fired a manager in retaliation for complaining about race and gender discrimination.

INDIANAPOLIS – Dots, Inc., a national women’s off-priced clothing retailer, will pay $246,500 and furnish other relief to settle a class race discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Dots’ Merrillville, Ind., clothing store denied jobs on a systemic basis to white applicants since at least April 1, 2007. During that time, the EEOC contended, Dots regularly hired black entry-level applicants for sales positions, but excluded white applicants who were equally or better qualified. Race discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The consent decree settling the suit provides that the settlement proceeds will be distributed to 32 class members. The decree also requires Dots to notify class members of open sales positions for a peri...

Company Fired Black Employee Because of His Race, EEOC Charges WINSTON-SALEM , N.C. – A Winston-Salem, N.C. –based, family-owned and operated electric company discriminated against a black electrician when it fired him because of his race, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. According to the EEOC’s suit, around Dec. 17, 2007, Salem Electric Company terminated Rodney Tonkins’ employment as a journeyman electrician, alleging that he was responsible for a crew of employees who damaged light fixtures on a light installation project. The EEOC contends in the suit that as a journeyman electrician, Tonkins did not supervise work crews and therefore was not responsible for the damaged light fixtures. Instead, according to the EEOC’s complaint, the company’s superintendent and foreman, both white, were in charge of the project and the crew workers. Neither of those individuals, nor the non-black employees who actually caused the damage t...

Race discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because he/she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). Color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color complexion. Race/color discrimination also can involve treating someone unfavorably because the person is married to (or associated with) a person of a certain race or color or because of a person’s connection with a race-based organization or group, or an organization or group that is generally associated with people of a certain color.

EEOC Says Management Officials Engaged in Race-Based Assignments BALTIMORE - Hi Care, Inc. d/b/a Home Instead Senior Care, which provides home care services for seniors in Anne Arundel and Howard counties illegally engaged in a pattern and practice of race-based assignments of its caregiver employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a lawsuit filed today. In its suit, the EEOC charges that since at least October 2007, Hi Care employed racial coding to identify clients who preferred Caucasians caregivers as “circle dots,” and relied upon such racial coding when assigning caregivers to work. The EEOC asserts that Hi Care catered to the racial preferences of its clients at its Arnold and Ellicott City, Md. offices.

Delivery Giant Unlawfully Assigned Drivers to Assignments and Neighborhoods Based on Race, Federal Agency Charged CHICAGO - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today filed a race discrimination lawsuit against DHL Express, Inc. on behalf of a class of African-American employees who were given different job assignments because of their race. The EEOC received more than 20 charges of discrimination against DHL alleging that the shipping and delivery giant discriminated against black workers. The EEOC's administrative investigation was conducted under the supervision of Chicago District Director John Rowe, who said that the EEOC's investigation found that DHL assigned black drivers to predominately black neighborhoods and white drivers to predominately white neighborhoods. “While this may not have been obvious to employees at first, over time, a pattern of segregation emerged,” said Rowe.

Black Employees Were Subjected to Disparate Treatment and Harassment, Including Noose Display, Federal Agency Charged CLEVELAND — Mineral Met, Inc. (a division of Chemalloy Company), will pay $440,000 and furnish other relief to settle a class race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. According to the EEOC’s suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division (Case No. 1:08-cv-02199), a class of black employees was subjected to racial hostility and discriminatory behavior at Mineral Met’s Cleveland facility. For example, Quality Control Supervisor Langston Satterwhite, of Maple Heights, Ohio, had an excellent performance history, but a white supervisor unfairly disciplined him for trivial matters, such as having facial hair or using a cell phone, even though white co-workers were not reprimanded for doing the same things. Other black employees were also repe...

New York, NY (July 6, 2010) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today filed lawsuits against the owners and managers of residential housing complexes in Brooklyn and Glenville, Schenectady County for refusing to rent or show apartments to black applicants. The Schenectady County owner and manager are also charged with refusing to rent to families with children. The lawsuits were filed in federal district courts in Brooklyn and Albany against 1648-50 Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn and Shady Lane Apartments at 133 Saratoga Road in Glenville after an undercover investigation. The lawsuits allege violations of federal and state housing and civil rights laws and seek civil penalties and an injunction prohibiting the companies from engaging in discriminatory practices.

Automotive Port Processing Company Fails to Hire African-Americans and Asks Improper Medical Questions on Applications, Federal Agency Charges NEWARK, N.J. -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a workplace discrimination suit on 06/17/2010 against FAPS, Inc., an automotive port processor, charging that the company has engaged in an ongoing pattern or practice of race discrimination against African-Americans in recruitment and hiring. The suit also charges that FAPS has made improper pre-employment disability-related inquiries of applicants. Both these alleged practices violate federal law. According to the EEOC’s suit, EEOC v. FAPS, Inc., filed in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey, FAPS has had, and continues to have, a statistically significant smaller percentage of black employees in entry-level positions than would be expected given the relevant labor market in the area where FAPS is located. FAPS maintains more than 250 acres and 575...

Company agrees to pay $290,000 to 446 African-American job applicants DENVER — The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has announced that The Wackenhut Corp., doing business as G4S Wackenhut, has entered into a consent decree to settle findings of hiring discrimination at its Aurora, Colo., facility. The consent decree settles OFCCP's allegations that Wackenhut engaged in hiring discrimination against 446 rejected African-American applicants for the position of traditional security officer for a two-year period. Wackenhut is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. "The department is committed to ensuring that federal contractors and subcontractors hire, promote and compensate their employees fairly, without respect to their race, gender, ethnicity, disability, religion or veteran status," said Patricia A. Shiu, director of OFCCP, who is based in Washington, D.C. "This settlement of $290,000 in back pay on behalf of 446 ...

Automotive Supplier Settles Bias Case Despite Bankruptcy DETROIT -- Noble Metal Processing, Inc., a Warren, Mich., automotive supplier, has agreed to pay $190,000 to settle a race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. According to the EEOC’s suit (Case No.2:08-CV-14713), filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Noble repeatedly overlooked qualified non-white employees, including a group of black employees and a Bangladeshi employee, for promotions to the maintenance department. In addition, a white employee who opposed this type of race discrimination and complained that managers in the maintenance department were using racial slurs was fired shortly after the company learned of his complaints.

BOSTON – Affordable Care, Inc., a national denture provider, will pay $150,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sex and race discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The lawsuit, filed in March 2009 in federal court in Springfield, Mass., charged that Affordable Care violated federal law when its affiliated dentist, Nelson Wood, sexually and racially harassed two female employees. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Kinston, N.C.-based Affordable Care and Nelson Wood, operating as Nelson Wood, DMD, PC, created a sexually and racially hostile work environment for Ariede Mills, who is African American, and Laura Carl, who is white, at its office in West Springfield. The lawsuit alleged that, among other things, Wood referred to women as “whining b-----s,” propositioned Mills for sex, spanked Carl repeatedly on the buttocks, made insulting remarks about blacks, and claimed that he had a relative who was a membe...

ST. LOUIS – Dollins Construction Company of Morley, Mo., has settled a race harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced on 05/24/2010. The EEOC’s suit, which was filed last September, charged that Dollins, an unincorporated business, violated federal law by racially harassing three African American construction workers and then taking reprisals against them when one complained. In its lawsuit (Case No. 1:09-cv-00137), the EEOC alleged that three black construction workers were subjected to unlawful racial harassment at a work site in Corydon, Ind., in the fall of 2006, which included the use of racially charged comments and the display of a noose. The suit said that after one of the victims complained about the conduct to the owner of the business in Scott County, Mo., they were not sent out on any further jobs.