Mile Hi Foods to Pay $1.5 Million in EEOC Race, Sex, and National Origin Discrimination Lawsuit

DENVER — Mile Hi Companies, a Denver-based distribution group for food and paper products primarily in the Rocky Mountains region, will pay $1,500,000 and provide other relief to settle an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in September 2024, the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Mile Hi Companies unlawfully denied employment opportunities to black, female and Afghan job applicants since 2015. The EEOC charged that the CEO specifically directed that the company should limit the percentages of black applicants it hired, should not hire women for warehouse jobs, and should stop hiring Afghan applicants for bakery jobs. When the human resources manager opposed these discriminatory directives, Mile Hi Companies unlawfully retaliated by harassing and ultimately firing her.

“Federal law prohibits retaliation against workers who refuse to participate in unlawful discrimination,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix District. “No employer may refuse to hire qualified individuals because of their sex, race or national origin, regardless of any preference its owners or managers may hold.”

The alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits retaliation and discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion and national origin, including discriminatory hiring. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Mile Hi Foods, Co., et al., Case No. 1-24-cv-02703) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

EEOC Denver Field Office Director Sherrie Hayashi said, “Hiring must be based on a worker’s merits and qualifications. The EEOC is committed to enforcing Title VII to provide equal employment opportunities for all job applicants.”

In addition to providing monetary relief to the human resources manager and affected applicants, the three-year consent decree settling the suit requires Mile Hi Companies to evaluate and revise existing policies and practices; train employees and management on anti-discrimination laws; commit to maintaining applicant records; and periodically report to the EEOC on these efforts.

For more information on sex-based, race and color and national origin discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sex-based-discrimination, https://www.eeoc.gov/racecolor-discrimination and https://www.eeoc.gov/national-origin-discrimination. For more information on retaliation, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/retaliation.

The EEOC’s Phoenix District Office has jurisdiction over Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and part of New Mexico.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.