The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has recently filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart, alleging that Wal-Mart failed to provide a reasonable accommodation to one of its sales associates and then placed that employee on an indefinite unpaid leave.  The EEOC’s lawsuit claimed that Wal-Mart initially allowed the employee the accommodation of using an electric cart to assist with his job duties, such as stocking shelves.  The employee needed this accommodation due to his disability.  Arbitrarily, after about seven months of permitting the use of the scooter, a new manager told the employee that he could no longer use it.  Wal-mart told the employee that the store’s carts were only for customers, despite permitting its use for months, and informed the employee that he would need to either buy his own electric cart or transfer to the self-checkout host position.  The employee was not physically capable of performing work in the self-checkout position, and he was not able to purchase an electric cart, so Wal-mart sent the employee home on an indefinite leave with no pay.  This alleged conduct is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled employees.  See Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, Civil Action No.: 1:22-cv-02596 (D.S.C.).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a lawsuit against a headhunting company, Jivaro Professional Headhunters.  The EEOC's lawsuit claims that the company discriminated against one of its employees, who worked for Jivaro as a senior technical engineer, and then later retaliated against her.  The lawsuit alleged that the employee was hospitalized and fired because of that hospitalization.  In addition, after she filed her EEOC charge, the company retaliated against her by giving prospective employers misleading and negative job reviews and further retaliated by filing a lawsuit against her, because she filed a Charge of Discrimination with the EEOC.  Such actions are prohibited by the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, which prohibits discrimination against an employee due to their disability and which further prohibits retaliation for complaints, including the filing of an EEOC charge, of disability discrimination.  See EEOC v. Jivaro Professional Headhunters, LLC, Case No. 1:20-cv-00461-CWD (D. Idaho).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a lawsuit that it had filed against a company doing business as Subway 701.  The EEOC had alleged that Subway 701 hired an employee with autism and ADHD who requested reasonable accommodations due to his disabilities.  The requested accommodations included specific instructions for tasks and for somebody to check and make sure he understood the tasks.  Rather than provide these accommodations, however, the EEOC's lawsuit claimed that the company refused to grant the accommodations and then fired the employee after only four shifts because of his disabilities and his accommodation requests.  These alleged actions violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, which mandates that employees provide reasonable accommodations to disabled employees.  See EEOC v. RCC Partners, LLC d/b/a Subway 701, Case No. 2:21-cv-01551 (D. Ariz.).

The U.S. Department of Labor recently concluded an investigation in which it determined that a technological services company had misclassified 57 of its employees, which resulted in these 57 employees not receiving time-and-a-half overtime wages that they should have earned for work that they completed over forty hours in a workweek.  The Department of Labor's investigation found that the company wrongly classified these 57 employees as "administratively exempt" employees.  It also found that the company did not keep daily time records for the employees and that the company had not included a non-discretionary yearly bonus when calculating their overtime pay rates.  Employees should know that many salaried employees are still owed time-and-a-half overtime wages, and it is illegal for companies to misclassify its employees as salary exempt.  See https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220512 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a lawsuit against DLS Engineering Associates in which the EEOC had alleged that DLS discriminated against one of its prospective employees due to her pregnancy.  The EEOC's lawsuit claimed that DLS had offered a pregnant prospective employee a position without knowledge that she was pregnant.  Once the prospective employee informed the company that she was five months pregnant, however, the company rescinded the offer.  In addition, the company explained to her that it could not hire somebody who was pregnant.  This alleged conduct is a violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which is an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  See EEOC v. DLS Engineering Associates, LLC, No. 3:21-cv-1214 (M.D. Fla.).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a lawsuit against senior living community.  The EEOC's lawsuit claimed that the company determined that one of its Certified Nursing Assistants could no longer perform the essential functions of her job because she had a lifting restriction, which resulted from a workplace injury that she suffered.  The employee asked to be placed into one of several other jobs for which she was qualified, but the company refused.  This alleged conduct is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, which requires employers to grant reasonable accommodations to its employees.  See EEOC v. Heart of CarDon, LLC, No. 1:20-cv-00998-JRS-MJD (S.D. Ind.).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a lawsuit that it had filed against a company that leases and sells storage containers.  The EEOC's lawsuit claimed that the company hired an employee in early April 2018 and gave her a positive 30-day review on May 10, 2018.  At the time it hired her, it was not apparent that the employee was pregnant.  On May 14, 2018, however, less than one week after the employee disclosed to the company that she was pregnant, the company terminated her employment.  One day after this, the company hired a non-pregnant replacement.  This alleged conduct is a violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which is an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of their pregnancy.  See EEOC v. Cassone Leasing, Inc., Civil Action No. 2:19-cv-3721 (E.D.N.Y.).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a lawsuit against Long John Silver's after it alleged that the restaurant subjected a teenage employee to sexual harassment and retaliation for her complaints of sexual harassment.  The lawsuit claimed that two adult male managers sexually harassed a female teenage employee by making numerous sexual comments, propositioning her for sex, making unwanted physical touching with her, and sending sexually explicit and inappropriate text messages.  The teenage employee complained about the sexual harassment, but Long John Silver's did not investigate and then cut her hours.  This alleged conduct is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment as well as retaliation against employees who make complaints about sexual harassment.  See EEOC v. LJS Opco Two, LLC d/b/a Long John Silver’s Store #70250, No. 3:21-cv-00717 (C.D. Ill.).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against a title loan company in which it alleged that the company had subjected an employee racial harassment and then fired her because of her disability.  The lawsuit claims that from August to September 2019, the employee's manager made offensive and discriminatory comments including comments about African American customers, regularly using the n-word, saying that she "hated working with n******," and saying that African Americans "never pay their bills."  The employee reported the comments to two managers and left messages with Human Resources, but nothing was ever done to stop the harassment and HR never returned the calls.  In addition to the racial harassment, the company refused the employee's reasonable request to use crutches or a wheelchair at work while she recovered from a disability and mandated that she not return until she could work with no restrictions whatsoever.  Eventually, instead of allowing her to return to work, the company terminated her employment.  This alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, which prohibit race discrimination and disability discrimination, respectively.  See EEOC v. Community Loans of America and Carolina Title Loans, Inc., No.: 6:22-cv-01000-DCC-JDA (D.S.C.).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a lawsuit against a company who terminated an employee shortly after they returned from a leave related to a disability.  The EEOC’s lawsuit claimed that employee told his employer, Ranew Management Company, that he suffered from severe depression and needed three weeks off of work, which was recommended by his doctor.  The employer told the employee to take as much time as he needed.  After six weeks of leave, the employee tried to return to work and gave Ranew a return to work note from his doctor.  Instead of allowing him to return, Ranew told him that it could no longer trust him to perform his job and fired him.  This alleged conduct is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of a disability and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations.  See No. 5:21-CV-00443-MTT (M.D. Ga.).

A trucking and property management company recently settled a lawsuit that the EEOC had filed against it in which the EEOC alleged that the company refused to make reasonable accommodations and then fired two of its employees because of their disabilities.  The lawsuit claimed that Groendyke Transport had a policy to fire employees after they had exhausted their 12 weeks of FMLA leave.  One employee (who had worked for Groendyke for 20 years) needed only one additional week of leave after his 12 weeks of FMLA leave were exhausted, but the company refused this accommodation and terminated his employment.  Such alleged conduct is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of an employee’s disability.  See EEOC v. Groendyke Transport, Inc and McKenzie Property Management, Inc. f/k/a McKenzie Tank Lines, Inc., No. 3:19-cv-02830-RV-EMT (N.D. Fla.).

A federal judge has ordered that Sweet Lemon Inc., which does business as Sweet Lemons Thai Restaurant, pay unpaid overtime and liquidated damages to 13 of its employees because it illegally denied employees of overtime wages and tips to which the employees were entitled.  The Department of Labor found these violations after it investigated the company.  The Department of Labor also found that the company retaliated against employees after the DOL’s investigation started by interrogating them about whether they had talked to DOL investigators.  This alleged conduct is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires employers to pay overtime non-exempt employees time-and-a-half overtime wages for their hours worked over 40 in a workweek and prohibits discrimination for complaints about unpaid overtime or cooperation in a Department of Labor investigation.  See Walsh v. Sweet Lemon Inc., et al., No. 20-12217-RGS.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled a lawsuit against a parts manufacturer.  The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that it hired an employee in May 2017 who had a severe hearing impairment.  She was proficient in American Sign Language but not English, and she communicated almost entirely with ASL.  The employee filed grievances between January 2018 to May 2018 claiming that the company was excluding her from meetings due to her disability.  The Complaint further alleged that, after she brought the complaint, the company disciplined her.  After she was forced to attend a mandatory meeting with no ASL interpreting, she filed a formal request for an interpreter to be present at meetings.  The company denied the request and then terminated her employment.  This alleged conduct is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of an employee’s disability.  See Commission v. Pneuline Supply, Inc., No.: 22-00292 (Dist. Colo.).

 The U.S. Department of Labor recently recovered significant unpaid overtime wages from a restaurant (MTLE LLC) that had illegally denied these wages to its employees.  The DOL found that the company, which operated as Mezcal Mexican Grill, did not pay time-and-a-half overtime wages to its employees who worked over 40 hours in a workweek, instead paying them only straight time wages regardless of how many hours they worked in a workweek.  The restaurant had acquired many of these employees through a staffing agency, and the DOL found that both companies were joint employers over the employees at issue.  The use of a staffing agency does not absolve a company of its responsibility to ensure that employees are properly paid for their overtime hours.  Any company that controls and manages the work of an employee is also responsible for making sure that they are paid all wages to which they are entitled.  See: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220204-0

A health services provider for correctional facilities has settled a lawsuit that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed, alleging that the company discriminated against one of its employees because of their sincerely held religious beliefs.  The lawsuit claimed that a nurse, who was a practicing Apostolic Pentecostal Christian, informed the company’s human resources department that she was required to dress modestly because of her religious beliefs, including wearing a skirt instead of pants at work.  After she informed HR, her request was declined and her job offer rescinded.  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against employees because of their sincerely held religious beliefs.  See EEOC v. Wellpath LLC, No. 5:20-cv-01092 (W.D. Tex.).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has settled a lawsuit against a company that provides delivery services for Amazon, in which the EEOC claimed that the company discriminated against one of its employees because of his sincerely held religious beliefs.  The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that the employee requested Sundays off of work so that he could attend church services.  The delivery company scheduled this employee on a Sunday despite his request.  The employee reminded the dispatcher that he was not able to work on Sundays because of his religious beliefs.  When he failed to appear for work on Sunday, the company terminated his employment.  Such alleged conduct is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires employers to grant reasonable accommodations for an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs.  See EEOC v. Tampa Bay Delivery Service, LLC,  No. 8:21-cv-02302 (M.D. Fla.).

A federal court issued a judgment against a medical staffing agency, requiring the company to pay unpaid wages and liquidated damages to over one thousand nursing aides, licensed practical nurses, and registered nurses.  The Court found that the employees had been misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees.  This misclassification cost the employees millions of dollars in overtime wages that the employees were entitled to by paying straight time wages instead of time-and-a-half overtime wages for their hours worked over forty in a workweek.  This alleged conduct is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires that non-exempt employees receive time-and-a-half overtime wages (regardless of whether they have been misclassified as independent contractors).  See U.S. DOL v. Medical Staffing of America, LLC, No. 2:18cv226 (E.D. Va.).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity settled a lawsuit in which the EEOC had alleged that the employer created such a racially hostile work environment that the employee was forced the quit.  The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that the general manager of the company discriminated against one of its African American employees by calling him “Black boy,” “the Black boy,” and “little Black guy.”  The lawsuit further alleged that the manager regularly used the “n” word in front of this employee.  On one occasion, a supervisor repeatedly told this employee that he was a “bitch as n*****,” and he said it in front of both the manager and other employees.  In response, the company sent the African American employee home for the day instead of the supervisor.  The work environment reached such a level of racial hostility that the employee resigned.  This alleged conduct is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of a person’s race.  See EEOC v. Don's Specialty Meats, Inc., No. 6:21-cv-03421 (W.D. La.).