Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc., a non-profit agency, will pay $105,000 to settle a race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC had charged in its suit (No. 2:08-cv-02621-BBD-cgc, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee) that Memphis Goodwill fired a transportation director in retaliation for reporting alleged race discrimination and because of her race, black.

In addition, the EEOC’s suit alleged that the vice president of operations chastised a group of African Americans by stating, “This is not the ghetto.” When the former transportation director complained to the vice president of operations, she received her first written reprimand from him within days and after receiving a second write-up less than 30 days later she was fired. After her termination, the EEOC said, a white male was hired as manager of transportation.

Under the terms of the two-year settlement agreement resolving the suit, signed by U.S. District Judge Bernice Bouie Donald, in addition to the monetary award, Memphis Goodwill agreed to provide employment discrimination training to management personnel at its Memphis facility and to report complaints of discrimination to the EEOC. The company will also purge the former employee's personnel file of negative disciplinary actions and provide her with a reference agreed to by the parties.