A Texas tree services company hired more than 1,900 men for field roles over four and a half years - and no more than 12 women, the EEOC alleges.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against Sequoias Tree Expert, LLC on September 30, 2026, in the Southern District of Texas, claiming the company ran a company-wide practice of refusing to hire women for field positions including groundsman, trimmer, foreman, and driver roles.
The complaint centers on a female applicant with years of experience in the tree trimming industry, including work as a foreman, groundsman, and trimmer. According to the filing, she applied for a groundsman position with Sequoias on or around February 17, 2025, after being recruited by a man who had been hired as - or had applied for - a general foreman role with the company.
That recruiter submitted her application alongside those of several other female and male applicants and recommended her to one of the company's project managers, the complaint states.
The response, according to the EEOC, was blunt: the company would not hire her because she is a woman.
The filing alleges the recruiter told the applicant that same day - February 17, 2025 - that Sequoias had refused to hire her because of her sex. Days later, on or around February 19, 2025, the company's HR manager offered her an office position instead. Not the groundsman job. Not any field role.
When the applicant told the HR manager she had been denied the field job because...
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