Newsroom

SEATTLE – Target Market Enterprises, Inc. (TME), a franchise owner of Little Caesars restaurants in Western Washington, violated federal law when it allowed employees to use derogatory terms targeting African American employees at its Mount Vernon, Washington location, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the EEOC’s suit filed on Sept. 30, TME was aware of, but failed to stop employees from using racial slurs targeting African

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

SAN FRANCISCO – National retailer Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, a New Jersey-based company, violated federal law by failing to provide a reasonable accommodation for an employee with post-partum depression and then fired her because of her disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the EEOC’s suit, a worker employed as a cashier and bookseller at the company’s Hayward, California store went into pre-term labor in

ELKO, Nev. – Drilling services provider Boart Longyear Company (US) agreed to provide $177,500 to a former employee following an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

The EEOC’s investigation found reasonable cause to believe that supervisors and coworkers harassed a black employee on the basis of his race during his employment at a Boart Longyear facility in Elko, Nevada from November 2021 to October 2022.

“The things

SEATTLE – Logic Staffing, a Washington-based staffing and recruiting agency, agreed to pay $217,500 after failing to hire a Muslim job applicant after he asked about a religious accommodation to attend Friday prayer. The company also agreed to provide other relief, resolving a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC's suit, Logic Staffing invited the applicant to interview at its Kent, Washington, headquarters

SAN FRANCISCO—Global retailer Walmart, Inc. violated federal law when it failed to provide a readily available reasonable accommodation for an employee with a disability, which would have allowed her to return to work; instead, the company placed her on unpaid leave, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the EEOC’s suit, Walmart repeatedly refused to allow a longtime employee to return to the work she had successfully

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

SEATTLE – Homes Direct of Oregon, LLC, a manufactured and modular homes dealer with thirteen locations in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and New Mexico, has signed a conciliation agreement resolving a charge of disability discrimination and retaliation filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

According to the EEOC, a housing consultant for Homes Direct in Albany, Oregon, alleged that three days after a request for a schedule change related

FREMONT, Calif. — Vehicle auctioneer Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc. will pay $175,000 and provide injunctive relief to resolve a racial harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today. 

According to the EEOC, a black yard worker faced racial harassment, including repeated racial slurs, by co-workers. Local managers were aware of the misconduct, but either ignored it or otherwise failed to take adequate steps to address it. The

HAYWARD, Calif. – Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center, a non-profit medical center with 15 health centers and clinics through southern Alameda County, has agreed to provide $195,000 to three female employees and other injunctive relief following an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

In July 2023, a female physician assistant filed an EEOC charge of discrimination alleging that she was consistently paid at a lower rate of pay

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

Image

Christopher Green Appointed Director of EEOC’s San Francisco District

SAN FRANCISCO – Christopher Green has been appointed director of the agency’s San Francisco District, effective Jan. 13, 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today. 

As director, Green will provide guidance and support to local offices under his district in matters of investigation, charge processing, education, outreach and other areas. Green has worked for the EEOC in various roles for 16 years

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

VALLEJO, Calif. – MedMark Treatment Centers, a subsidiary of BayMark Health Services which provides treatment for opioid addiction and substance use disorders, agreed to provide $55,000 to a former employee following an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC, a counselor at MedMark’s treatment center in Vallejo, California, requested disability accommodations to return to work after an extended medical leave. The EEOC’s investigation found

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Former cellular phone retailer Wireless World LLC, doing business as Experts Choice, will pay $107,916 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit against its predecessor Elite Wireless Group, Inc., the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today. 

According to the EEOC’s complaint, a teenage female store employee of Elite Wireless faced sexual harassment, including repeated unwelcome advances and requests for sex, from a sales manager in 2017. The sales manager later sexually

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

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Catalyst Family Inc., a non-profit company that operates child development centers in various locations in California, has agreed to provide almost $150,000 to a former employee and injunctive relief following an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s investigation, the part-time employee worked for Catalyst Family for about two years when he requested an accommodation for his intellectual and cognitive disabilities

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Cruz Construction Co., Inc., agreed to provide $56,000 and injunctive relief to a former employee following an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s investigation, the company fired an administrative assistant in July 2023, two days after she requested a reasonable accommodation for a disability.

Firing an employee because she asserted her right to ask for accommodation violated the Americans with

SEATTLE – Jetro Holdings, LLC, a wholesale food service supplier operating under the name Restaurant Depot in Fife, Washington, has agreed to institute sweeping changes to its internal complaint procedures and implement trainings for its facilities in the state of Washington to resolve a sexual harassment complaint filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

According to the EEOC, a former employee alleged that during the year prior to her

RENO, Nev. – Victra, the business name of ABC Phones of North Carolina and a nationwide retailer of Verizon mobile devices, violated federal law when it denied a worker’s request to leave new hire training early for an urgent medical evaluation related to her pregnancy and rescinded her job offer instead, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the suit, a woman hired as a sales consultant

LONGVIEW, Wash. – Total Employment and Management (TEAM), a staffing agency based in Moses Lake, Washington, violated the law by refusing to comply with the terms of a conciliation agreement regarding a classwide national origin discrimination finding, according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Sept. 26.

According to the lawsuit, TEAM participated in EEOC conciliation, a process to resolve charges informally before litigation, and agreed to resolve