An interstate trucking firm has agreed to pay $2.4 million and provide other remedial relief to a class of women to settle a major sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to the EEOC, beginning in 1997, PittOhio Express, Inc., denied a class of qualified female applicants employment as truck drivers or dockworkers. Instead, men filled the positions during the period in question.
In addition to the significant monetary settlement, the trucking firm has agreed to (1) make offers of employment to women who previously should have been hired as drivers and dockworkers, (2) provide equal opportunity training to all supervisors and managers, and (3) monitor and report on the status and outcome of its training efforts.
The consent decree will remain in effect for five years and requires the trucking company to affirmatively contact, recruit, and hire women as drivers and dockworkers and provide detailed reports identifying their success in those efforts during the term of the consent decree. EEOC v. Pitt Ohio Express, Inc., DCOH Civil Action No. 1:2006-CV-007474, consent decree entered January 22, 2009.
Car Dealership Shells Out $244,000 to Settle Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Suits
A Philadelphia car dealership, Murphy Ford, Inc., agreed to pay $244,000 to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the EEOC.
According to the EEOC, Murphy Ford sexually harassed three female employees and fired one woman for complaining about the unlawful harassment. In the lawsuit, the commission alleged that the dealership’s service manager sexually harassed Cynthia Bell and other female service department employees.
The service manager’s harassment allegedly included sexually explicit comments, references to oral sex, and grabbing his private parts in their presence. Despite one employee’s complaints to the owner and management, the dealership apparently made no effort to stop the harassment. Instead, according to the EEOC, it retaliated against Bell by suddenly firing her.
Under the seven-year consent decree settling the suit, the dealership agreed to pay $206,500 to Bell, who was represented by private counsel. The balance of the settlement will be distributed to the other employees who were subjected to the harassing behavior. In addition, the consent decree contains significant remedial relief, including a provision that Murphy Ford train its managers and supervisors on the provisions and protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. EEOC v. Murphy Ford, Inc., DCPA Civil No. 08-CV-1235, settled February 11, 2009.