EEOC Sues StoneMor Cemetery Management Company for Racial Discrimination and Retaliation

Federal lawsuit alleges company excluded black employees from breakroom and fired supervisor for failing to suppress discrimination complaints

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – StoneMor, Inc., a cemetery and funeral management company, violated federal law when it discriminated against black employees, and retaliated against a supervisor after failing to stop complaints about racial discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, StoneMor managers at a Memphis location restricted all black employees from a breakroom while allowing access to white employees. The company also fired a burial supervisor in May 2022 after a member of his crew complained about similar racial discrimination to the corporate headquarters and threatened to complain to the EEOC. StoneMor managers initially directed the supervisor to restrain his staffer from filing those complaints, threatening him with discharge if he failed, the suit said.

“Segregating employees by race and pressuring supervisors to silence discrimination complaints strike at the core of federal civil rights law,” said Catherine Eschbach, acting EEOC General Counsel. “The EEOC will continue to hold employers accountable when they attempt to enforce discriminatory practices or retaliate against those who stand up for equal treatment in the workplace.”

“It is long-settled that excluding employees from use of facilities based on race is unlawful,” said Delner Franklin-Thomas, director of EEOC’s Memphis District Office. “Federal law also strictly prohibits retaliation against employees who refuse to participate in efforts to silence workers who report discrimination.”

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against any individual because of race and from retaliating against an employee because he or she opposed unlawful discrimination. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. StoneMor, Inc., Case No. 2:26-cv-02122) in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

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

The EEOC’s Memphis District Office has jurisdiction over Tennessee, Arkansas, and 17 counties in Northern Mississippi.

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.