Trucking company pays $1.25M to settle allegations it refused to hire women

From a ground view, the exterior of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is seen on Sept. 7, 2022. R&L Carriers, a trucking company, settled allegations this week that it refused to hire female applicants for certain roles. Caroline Colvin/HR Dive

R&L Carriers, an Ohio-based trucking company that operates nationwide, will pay $1.25 million to a class of female applicants to settle U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allegations that it discriminated against women in hiring for at least 7 years, from 2010 to 2017.

In the August 2017 complaint, EEOC v. R&L Carriers and R&L Carriers, Shared Services, LLC, EEOC alleged R&L Carriers refused to hire women as dockworkers or loaders, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“Although a few women were hired as loaders, most female applicants were rejected or steered to different positions because of their sex,” EEOC said in an April 25 press release, expanding on the situation. “Applicants and other witnesses stated they were told R&L Carriers did not hire women for loader positions. The alleged discriminatory conduct resulted in a large difference in the percentage of female applicants who were hired compared to male applicants who were hired.”

In the April 24 consent decree, R&L Carriers agreed to pay $1.25 million into a fund that will be used to compensate the applicants identified by EEOC as eligible claimants, which the agency defined as any woman who unsuccessfully applied for a number of specified positions at R&L Carriers’ service center in Wilmington, Ohio, between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 27, 2017. 

The company also agreed to a number of other provisions, including:

• Posting a notice of nondiscrimination policy in a conspicuous area of its Wilmington facility;

• Sending a notice of nondiscrimination in hiring policy to all recruiters, employment agencies, job services and others involved in the company’s hiring process;

• Providing two hours of Title VII training to all hiring staff within 90 days, led by a third-party trainer; and

• Making good-faith efforts to increase the number of women in loader positions, through revised marketing materials and job advertisements and through more targeted outreach and recruitment.

EEOC has historically targeted employers that hire women or segregate roles by sex, often resulting in large settlements. In February 2022, American Freight Management Co. agreed to pay $5 million to settle EEOC claims it excluded women from sales and warehouse jobs. And, in a case that is still pending, the agency also alleged last September that a car dealership refused to hire women for sales positions or men for clerical and office roles.

This article, written by Emilie Shumway, appeared first on HR Dive.