Logistics firms to pay $2M to settle hiring discrimination cases
Birchstone Management and Mile Hi Companies will pay a combined $2 million to resolve cases alleging discriminatory hiring practices. The post Logistics firms to pay $2M to settle hiring discrimination cases appeared first on FreightWaves.
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Two logistics and distribution companies have agreed to pay a combined $2 million to resolve federal employment discrimination cases involving allegations that women and other applicants were denied jobs based on sex, race or national origin. The U. S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Monday that Birchstone Management, a Dallas-based warehousing and logistics management company, agreed to pay $500,000 after an investigation found the company rejected qualified women seeking pallet repair jobs.
The settlement comes less than two weeks after the EEOC announced Denver-based Mile Hi Companies would pay $1. 5 million to resolve a federal lawsuit alleging discriminatory hiring practices involving Black, female and Afghan applicants.
EEOC says Birchstone rejected women for pallet repair jobs The EEOC said its investigation found that Birchstone Management turned away a qualified woman who applied for a pallet repairer position at the company’s Spokane Valley, Washington, location solely because of her sex. window. googletag = window. googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag. cmd.
push(function() {var gptSlot = googletag. defineSlot('/21776187881/FW-Responsive-Main_Content-Slot1', [[300, 100], [320, 50], [728, 90], [468, 60]], 'div-gpt-ad-1709668545404-0'). defineSizeMapping(gptSizeMaps. banner1). addService(googletag. pubads()); googletag. pubads(). enableSingleRequest(); googletag. pubads(). collapseEmptyDivs(); googletag.
enableServices(); setInterval(function() {if (! document. hidden) {googletag. pubads(). refresh([gptSlot]); } }, 30000); }); googletag. cmd. push(function() {googletag. display('div-gpt-ad-1709668545404-0'); }); The agency said the practice extended beyond one applicant and location.
Since at least May 2020, Birchstone allegedly rejected other qualified female applicants for pallet repair jobs in Spokane Valley; Amarillo and Houston, Texas; Lakewood, Washington; and Las Vegas. Instead, according to the EEOC, Birchstone hired men with similar or fewer qualifications or continued looking for male applicants.
“I showed up ready to demonstrate my ability to do the job, only to be told that the company only hires men,” the applicant who filed the charge said in the EEOC announcement. “I hope this case helps employers stop labeling jobs as ‘women’s work’ or ‘men’s work.’”
Birchstone agreed to provide $55,000 to the woman and establish a $445,000 settlement fund for other affected applicants. The agreement resulted from the EEOC’s pre-litigation conciliation process rather than a lawsuit.
Along with monetary relief, Birchstone must revise its hiring and recruitment policies, provide training to personnel involved in hiring at several locations, audit its employment recordkeeping annually and report to the EEOC for two years. Mile Hi Foods settles EEOC lawsuit for $1. 5M The Birchstone settlement follows a Sept.
25 announcement that Mile Hi Companies, a Denver-based distributor of food and paper products, agreed to pay $1. 5 million to settle an EEOC lawsuit filed in 2024. window. googletag = window. googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag. cmd. push(function() {var gptSlot = googletag.
defineSlot('/21776187881/fw-responsive-main_content-slot3', [[728, 90], [468, 60], [320, 50], [300, 100]], 'div-gpt-ad-1665767553440-0'). defineSizeMapping(gptSizeMaps. banner1). addService(googletag. pubads()); googletag. pubads(). enableSingleRequest(); googletag. pubads(). collapseEmptyDivs(); googletag. enableServices(); setInterval(function() {if (!
document. hidden) {googletag. pubads(). refresh([gptSlot]); } }, 30000); }); googletag. cmd. push(function() {googletag. display('div-gpt-ad-1665767553440-0'); }); The allegations in that case extended beyond sex discrimination. The EEOC alleged Mile Hi denied employment opportunities to Black, female and Afghan applicants beginning in 2015.
According to the agency’s lawsuit, the company’s CEO directed employees to limit the percentage of Black applicants hired, not hire women for warehouse positions and stop hiring Afghan applicants for bakery jobs.
When the company’s human resources manager opposed those directives, the EEOC alleged Mile Hi retaliated against her by harassing and eventually firing her. The EEOC filed the lawsuit in September 2024 after the agency said efforts to reach a settlement through its administrative conciliation process were unsuccessful. window. googletag = window.
googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag. cmd. push(function() {var gptSlot = googletag. defineSlot('/21776187881/fw-responsive-main_content-slot4', [[300, 100], [320, 50], [728, 90], [468, 60]], 'div-gpt-ad-1709668086344-0'). defineSizeMapping(gptSizeMaps. banner1). addService(googletag. pubads()); googletag. pubads(). enableSingleRequest(); googletag. pubads().
collapseEmptyDivs(); googletag. enableServices(); setInterval(function() {if (! document. hidden) {googletag. pubads(). refresh([gptSlot]); } }, 30000); }); googletag. cmd. push(function() {googletag. display('div-gpt-ad-1709668086344-0'); }); Under a three-year consent decree, M
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