Preferred People Staffing to Pay $250,000 to Settle Sex Bias Suit
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Friday, July 10, 2009 |
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National
employment agency chain Preferred Labor LLC, doing business as
Preferred People Staffing, has agreed to pay $250,000 to settle a sex
discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC), the agency announced. Preferred Labor agreed to
settle the lawsuit after selling its entire temporary day labor
business to another employment agency.
According to the EEOC's
lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Massachusetts (Case No. 06-40190), the North Carolina-based employment
agency subjected a class of female employees in its Worcester, Mass.,
facility to unlawful job segregation on the basis of sex and then
retaliated against one woman for complaining. The EEOC said that
Preferred restricted women to a narrow range of assignments and
complied with discriminatory requests from its clients for male-only
temporary employees. Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the
Civil Rights Law of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination in
employment.
"This settlement is a stark reminder to businesses:
A customer's preference to be staffed or served only by workers of a
particular gender is never an excuse to engage in illegal sex
discrimination," said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru.
U.S.
District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV approved a consent decree detailing
the settlement. Under the decree, Preferred will pay $250,000 to women
who were affected by the discriminatory practices. In addition, the
decree provides that if Preferred resumes conducting business as a
temporary day labor agency, it will be enjoined from engaging in
discrimination or retaliation and will implement policies and
procedures prohibiting those practices. Further, the company will have
to conduct anti-discrimination training for its employees and managers
and take other steps designed to prevent discrimination and retaliation.
"We
commend Preferred for working cooperatively with us to reach this
agreement," said EEOC New York District Director Spencer H. Lewis. "The
resolution of this lawsuit represents substantial progress in the
expansion of job opportunities for women in the temporary labor
industry."
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