Sex Discrimination: Company to Pay $5.5M to Settle EEOC Lawsuit

A national trucking company has agreed to pay $5.5 million to resolve claims that it refused to hire qualified female drivers across the U.S., according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The alleged sex discrimination has occurred for at least 10 years, the agency said.

Lawsuit Alleges Nationwide Sex Discrimination

Central Transport, LLC, is based in Michigan and has more than 200 regional and local facilities. 

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the company has had a longstanding practice of passing over qualified female truck driver applicants and instead routinely hiring male applicants.

Of the men who were hired, many were less qualified and had less experience, the agency said.

The sex discrimination lawsuit alleged:

• Many female applicants reported being screened and evaluated differently than their male counterparts at locations across the country
• Several female driver applicants observed Central Transport throwing their job applications in the trash at local truck terminals
• Some company terminals, including the El Paso and Phoenix locations, didn’t hire any female drivers for a number of years, despite having numerous female applicants, and
• At a West Virginia truck terminal, the dispatcher informed a female applicant that corporate offices had instructed him not to hire any female truck drivers.

During its investigation, the EEOC received reports of sex-based discrimination at the following company locations: Atlanta, Bartlett, TN, Blue Springs, MO, Cheboygan, MI, Chicago, Detroit, Dunbar, WV, Horn Lake, MS, Memphis, TN, North Jackson, OH, Phoenix, Portland, OR, and Springfield, IL.

In the EEOC’s view, this alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination – including refusing to hire applicants based on gender. The agency filed a lawsuit after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement. 

“Unfortunately, sex discrimination in hiring continues to be a problem in some industries,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office. “It is illegal for employers to refuse to hire women because of their sex.”

EEOC Phoenix District Director Melinda Caraballo took the point further, stressing that qualified female workers should be given an equal chance to compete for jobs with men and also reminded employers that they need to retain job applications and hiring records, especially when EEOC charges have been filed. 

Employer’s 7-Figure Payout

Ultimately, Central Transport agreed to settle the case. Under the consent decree, Central Transport must:

• Pay $5.5 million to the four original complainants and a class of other qualified female truck drivers who applied but were not hired
• Allow the affected applicants to reapply for positions without facing sex-based discrimination or retaliation for participating in the lawsuit
• Hire an outside consultant to review its hiring policies, practices and procedures to ensure full compliance with Title VII
• Provide training on its anti-discrimination policies, including training on its recordkeeping obligations and the filing of EEO-1 reports, and
• Submit to EEOC monitoring.

HR Takeaways

Central Transport’s $5.5 million settlement is a reminder that discriminatory hiring practices – even informal ones – carry significant legal and financial risk.

Action steps for HR teams:

• Audit your hiring process. Review how applications are screened, tracked and evaluated at each location. Inconsistent hiring procedures across sites are a red flag – and what happens at a regional terminal can land corporate in court.
• Train hiring managers. Front-line managers and dispatchers making employment decisions need to understand Title VII obligations – including that informal instructions to avoid hiring certain groups are illegal. Common manager mistakes can expose the entire organization to liability.
• Lock down your recordkeeping. The EEOC expects employers to retain job applications and hiring records. If a charge has been filed, that obligation becomes even more critical – and failure to produce records can make a bad situation worse.