A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco has affirmed a $65,000 jury verdict against AutoZone, Inc., the Memphis-based national auto parts retail giant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today.

John Muir Health, a health care system with hospitals and other medical facilities throughout Contra Costa County, agreed to pay $340,000 to eight health care workers and to implement preventative measures to settle a federal disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The Brentwood, Long Island Fire District will pay $465,600 to settle a class age discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Belk, Inc. will pay $55,000 and furnish other relief to settle a religious discrimin­ation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC had charged in its lawsuit that Belk violated federal law when it failed to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs and then fired her because of her religion.

The greatest barrier to employment for people with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities are employers' myths and fears about their condition, not the disabilities themselves, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) learned at a hearing held today.  The hearing focused on a group whose rate of unemployment and underemployment far exceeds the national average.

Heartland Employment Services, which operates ManorCare Health Services - Citrus Heights, will pay $30,000 and provide training to all its employees to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today that Chief U.S. District Judge Charles N. Clevert has entered a $35,000 consent decree that resolves an EEOC pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the agency against a Milwaukee-based company that provides security guard services for government buildings.

A statewide health care provider with a dental clinic in South Bend, Ind., will pay $45,000 to settle a sex/pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

A federal judge has ordered an Osceola, Ark., nursing home company to comply with a subpoena issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the agency's subpoena enforcement action against the company, the EEOC announced today. The judge also ordered sanctions against the company for failing to comply with the subpoena.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will hold a public meeting on employment of people with mental disabilities on Tuesday, March 15, at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), at agency headquarters, 131 M Street, N.E. In accordance with the Sunshine Act, the meeting is open for public observation of the Commission's deliberations.