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H&E Equipment Services, Inc., one of the nation’s largest dealers in heavy equipment, will pay $125,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The lawsuit, filed on Sept. 28, 2011 in federal court in Denver, charged H&E with violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to promote and then laying off a female supervisor because of her gender. H&E is a Delaware corporation registered to do business in Colorado; its headquarters are in Baton Rouge, La. The alleged discrimination occurred at its Denver-area facility.

According to the EEOC’s suit, EEOC v. H&E Equip. Serv’s Inc., 11-cv-02546-WYD-BNB, the branch manager at H&E’s Henderson, Colo., facility offered a male employee a rental manager position that he denied to Kathleen Wooten, the rental supervisor. In doing so, the branch manager said that he didn’t think women could be managers in the construction industry. Wooten then complained of sex discrimination, only to be laid off and replaced by a male employee, the EEOC alleged.

In addition to the monetary settlement, the two-year agreement which resolves the lawsuit contains non-monetary relief. H&E will review its written equal employment opportunity policies and complaint reporting procedures. The company will also provide training against sex discrimination and retaliation to all Colorado employees and to all higher-level managers nationwide. The agreement also requires that H&E use non-discriminatory criteria for conducting layoffs, and that it report to EEOC semi-annually regarding compliance with the agreement.