The company that operates a Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel in Aiken, S.C., violated federal law by firing two employees, one as retaliation for complaining about discrimination and the other because it mistakenly believed she was doing so, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed yesterday.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and CVS Caremark announced today the signing of a National Universal Agreement to Mediate (NUAM) to informally resolve workplace disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) before an EEOC investigation or potential litigation occurs.

The State of Georgia's Department of Community Health and one of its local county districts, McIntosh County Health Department, will pay $60,000 to settle an age discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Pet store giant PETCO Animal Supplies Stores, Inc. will pay $145,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC had charged the company with failing to accommodate a deaf pet groomer formerly employed at one of its stores in Aurora, Colo.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will hold its 13th annual EXCEL (Examining Conflicts in Employment Law) conference from July 12 to 15 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando, Florida. EXCEL is the premier national federal sector law conference and the most comprehensive of its kind examining contemporary equal employment opportunity issues and other workplace topics. The multi-day interactive and educational program, themed "Passion for Equality", features eight plenary sessions and more than 50 workshops.

One of the largest apple producers in the United States has been placed under a temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The federal agency was motivated by the immediate danger of "substantial and irreparable injury" to class members and potential witnesses in the EEOC's sexual harassment suit against Cowiche, Wash.-based Evans Fruit Company, which was filed at the same time as the agency's TRO request.

John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, Inc., an Atlanta-based home builder, has agreed to pay $378,500 to six claimants and hire at least ten African-Americans and women into management positions over the next six years, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today. The agreement resolves a race and sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC in June 2009.

Siouxland Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, LLP of Sioux Falls, S.D., has agreed to pay $95,000 in punitive damages and attorneys' fees, in addition to $23,775 paid earlier this year for lost earnings and interest, to resolve a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of two pregnant women discriminated against in 2002, the agency announced today.  Siouxland is a medical clinic in Sioux Falls that specializes in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

The Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar – Bismarck South, owned and operated by Apple Core, Inc. and Food Management Investors, Inc. (FMI), violated federal civil rights laws by permitting a former store general manager to create a pattern and practice of sexual harassment and retaliation against employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed late yesterday.

A St. Louis-based plastic injection molding company will pay $190,000 and provide other relief to resolve a sexual harassment and constructive discharge lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.