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AUSTIN, Texas — Peak Performers, incorporated as St. Vincent de Paul Rehabilitation Services of Texas, Inc., an Austin-based staffing agency providing staffing and recruitment services for workers with disabilities, agreed to pay $160,000 to a disabled former employee and institute significant reforms to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, following a suicide attempt resulting from mental health

NEW ORLEANS – Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc. (CCBCU), the third-largest bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products in the United States and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, violated federal law by failing to accommodate an employee with a disability and then firing him because of his disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the suit, the employee, who worked as a delivery driver for CCBCU in Lafayette

WASHINGTON – Apple, Inc. unlawfully failed to accommodate an employee’s Jewish faith and subsequently fired him because of his religion and in retaliation for complaining of religion-based discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged in a lawsuit filed today.

The EEOC’s suit said a 16-year employee at the Reston, Virginia Apple Store, who worked as an Apple “genius” consistently received positive performance reviews. However, beginning in August 2023, shortly after he converted to

NEW ORLEANS – Federal Express Corporation (FedEx) violated federal law by subjecting a female administrator at the company’s St. Rose, Louisiana location to sexual harassment and firing her when she refused to continue to work with her harasser, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the EEOC’s suit, the administrator’s direct supervisor subjected her to sexual harassment for years, which the administrator reported to the company. The

AUSTIN, Texas — Peak Performers, incorporated as St. Vincent de Paul Rehabilitation Services of Texas, Inc., an Austin-based staffing agency providing staffing and recruitment services for workers with disabilities, violated federal law when it refused to provide a reasonable accommodation to a disabled executive assistant and then fired her, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, following a suicide attempt resulting from mental health

WASHINGTON – Equinox Holdings, Inc., which owns and operates fitness facilities nationwide, will pay $48,000 and provide other relief to resolve a disability and sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s suit, Equinox rejected a female applicant with endometriosis and experience working for other fitness companies after she requested that her second-round interview for a front desk associate position be delayed

NEW ORLEANS – Oil field service companies Bigfoot Energy Services and Iron Mountain Energy, who operated as a single employer, will pay $697,500 and provide other equitable relief to settle a lawsuit alleging race- and sex-based harassment and retaliation brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the companies’ employees, including management, frequently used the “n-word” and other racially derogatory terms when referring to

AUSTIN, Texas – Corner Bar, which operates on South Lamar Boulevard in Austin, Texas, will pay $42,000 and provide other equitable relief to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today. The lawsuit named three limited liability companies that operate Corner Bar and other Austin-area hospitality businesses.

The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that soon after the bartender became visibly pregnant, Corner Bar reduced her work

WACO, Texas – Heart of Texas Goodwill Industries, Inc., a Texas-based non-profit retailer, will pay $75,000 and provide other equitable relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

The EEOC’s lawsuit charged that Heart of Texas Goodwill refused to consider an applicant who is deaf for a production team member position at its store in Killeen, Texas. The EEOC’s complaint alleged that

WASHINGTON – Security Assurance Management, Inc. (SAM), a security firm operating in the Washington area, violated federal law when it removed a special police officer from her assignment because its client did not want her working at its jobsite while pregnant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed Jan. 21.

According to the lawsuit, SAM failed to provide the employee with both breaks for pumping breast milk and an appropriate

NEW ORLEANS – Allegiance Health Management, Inc., a Bossier City-based health system that operates medical facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, violated federal law by requiring applicants and employees to provide personal disability-related information and by maintaining an inflexible leave policy that did not allow for reasonable accommodation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

The suit arises from a charge of discrimination filed by an environmental technician employed

NEW ORLEANS – Bellsouth Telecommunications, LLC, doing business as AT&T, violated federal law when it reassigned or terminated employees because they exceeded a weight limit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the company violated federal law by implementing a strictly enforced 275-pound weight limit for its field employees, which tended to screen out employees with Class III obesity. Because of the policy, AT&T

WASHINGTON – Northern Virginia Surgery Center, LLC (NVSC), which operates an outpatient surgery center, will pay $50,000 and provide programmatic relief to resolve a disability and age discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the lawsuit, when an older radiologic technologist requested an extension of her medical leave to recover from carpel tunnel surgery, NVSC terminated her and replaced her with two significantly younger

WASHINGTON – Equinox Holdings, Inc. (Equinox), which owns and operates fitness facilities and gyms nationwide, illegally discriminated against a woman who suffers from endometriosis on the basis of disability and sex when it failed to hire her as a front desk associate at its sports club in Washington because of her “monthly cycle” and potential need for a reasonable accommodation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged in a lawsuit filed today. The agency also

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today released its Annual Report on the Federal Workforce for fiscal year (FY) 2021. The report provides the state of equal employment opportunity (EEO) throughout the federal government including benchmarks against which individual agencies can gauge their performance.

The report’s first section identified underlying FY 2021 trends in federal sector complaint processing. Main findings included:

• 33,506 counselings completed, with 36.5% resulting in a formal complaint filing

WASHINGTON – Alto Experience, Inc., a ride hailing company that currently operates in Texas, Florida, and California, and previously operated in the District of Columbia and Virginia, violated federal law when it denied reasonable accommodations and employment to deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals who applied to work as personal drivers, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the lawsuit, Alto refused to hire qualified deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals

WASHINGTON – Susan Harthill, a lawyer and executive leader with 30 years of employment law experience, joined the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as the Director of Appellate Review Programs (ARP) in the agency’s Office of Federal Operations (OFO) on Nov. 18, following her selection in early October.

In the role, Harthill will lead the program responsible for adjudicating appeals of decisions on employment discrimination complaints filed by federal employees and applicants for federal

NEW ORLEANS – Oil field service companies Bigfoot Energy Services and Iron Mountain Energy Services, operating as a single employer, violated federal law by failing to prevent widespread sexual and racial harassment in their workforce, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed on Sept. 27.

According to the suit, the companies’ male employees frequently engaged in sexually demeaning conduct, including sharing pornographic images and making sexually offensive comments. Additionally, employees

MINDEN, La. – Minden Seafood, LLC, a seafood restaurant in Minden, Louisiana, violated federal law when it failed to stop a male worker from repeatedly sexually harassing a female employee and refused to rehire her after she quit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the lawsuit, the female employee was a cashier at the restaurant. A coworker repeatedly and persistently subjected her to unwelcome sexual advances

WASHINGTON – Inova Surgery Center, LLC, which operates outpatient surgery centers in Northern Virginia, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) by firing an employee because of her disability and age, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a suit filed today. 

According to the lawsuit, when a 52-year-old radiologic technician requested an extension of her medical leave to recover from carpal tunnel surgery, Inova

NEW ORLEANS – Gracious, LLC, a New Orleans-based company doing business as Gracious Bakery + Café, agreed to pay a former employee $46,500 to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the company violated federal law after it fired an employee for missing two shifts at the bakery to seek emergency medical treatment related to her pregnancy. Although the

SAN ANTONIO – Benson Enterprises, Inc., the operator of multiple automotive dealerships including Ingram Park Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram, violated federal law by subjecting two female employees to sex-based discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed in federal court today.

The EEOC’s lawsuit claimed a male manager for Ingram Park Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram created and maintained a hostile work environment by subjecting a female fleet

SAN ANTONIO — National Telecommuting Institute, Inc. (NTI), a Westwood, Massachusetts-based staffing support firm, agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The EEOC’s lawsuit charged NTI with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act when it did not pursue placement or referral of blind and low-vision job applicants as telephone-based customer service agents when the company became aware that

THIBODAUX, La. – X-Treme Tech Services, LLC, which provides marine electronic services, violated federal law when a supervisor repeatedly sexually harassed a female employee and then fired her after she resisted his advances, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the lawsuit, the female employee was an administrative assistant for X-Treme Tech and her supervisor repeatedly and persistently subjected her to unwelcome sexual advances. His conduct included