First Tower Loan Settles EEOC Sex Discrimination Suit

Financial Loan Company Terminated Employee Because of His Transgender Status, Federal Agency Charged

NEW ORLEANS - First Tower Loan, LLC, a financial loan company based in Flowood, Miss., agreed to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and implement gender identity protections, the EEOC announced today.

In September 2015, the EEOC intervened in a suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana filed by Tristan Broussard, a former employee of First Tower Loan (Broussard v. First Tower Loan, LLC, Case No. 2:15-cv-01161). The EEOC's suit charged that First Tower Loan violated federal law by firing Broussard because he is transgender and did not conform to the company's gender-based expectations. However, the EEOC's suit was stayed pending an arbitration between Broussard, as a private plaintiff, and First Tower Loan. After an arbitration hearing, Broussard was awarded $53,000 in damages by the arbitrator, but no injunctive relief was awarded.

The 18-month consent decree resolving the EEOC's suit strengthens the company's discrimin­ation policy by prohibiting and preventing discrimination or harassment against an employee because the employee is transgender, or because the employee does not conform to the company's sex- or gender-based preferences, expectations, or stereotypes. The agreement also prohibits the company from engaging in any employment practice which discriminates based on gender identity, transgender status, or sex stereotyping. First Tower Loan further agreed to provide training to its managers and employees explaining the prohibition against discrimination based on gender non-conformity under Title VII, and to provide its management with guidance on handling such complaints. 

"We are pleased that First Tower Loan agreed to resolve this case by entering into this consent decree," said Supervisory Trial Attorney Eduardo Juarez of the EEOC's San Antonio Field Office. "This agreement will help protect other employees from discrimination based on gender identity, transgender status, or sex stereotyping."

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.  Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.