The Dudley Perkins Company, the country’s oldest Harley Davidson motorcycle dealership, will pay $55,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sex discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The EEOC’s suit had charged that the San Francisco-based company refused to let a female employee, Bowen Dean, work as a mechanic, while hiring less qualified men.  Further, the EEOC said, Dudley Perkins fired her after she filed an EEOC sex discrimination charge.  The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Case No. C-08-4552-CW) after first attempting to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Through the consent decree settling the suit, the court ordered that Dudley Perkins revise its equal employment policy and complaint procedure; train its staff every year about sex discrimination and retaliation; post a notice stating the terms of the decree and how to complain about discrimination; include in its advertising a statement affirming its commitment not to discriminate based on sex; and report its hiring decisions to the EEOC for the decree’s two-year term.  In addition, the company will pay Dean $55,000 as monetary damages.