On January 11, 2024, the EEOC announced it was settling an alleged sex discrimination claim with a national retail corporation in Ottumwa, Iowa. The allegation was that the store had improperly used sex stereotyping about women with young children. According to the EEOC statement, there was “… evidence presented by the EEOC, when the employee asked why she was passed over for promotion, a store official noted that she had young children at home and that store management assumed she was not interested in advancing her career [at the store]long term.” Instead, the store promoted a woman who did not have any children.
As part of its statement, the EEOC further noted that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sex discrimination based on a variety of things including “sex-based stereotypes, such as the stereotype that mothers are unreliable, uncommitted employees.” The settlement provides for $60,000 paid in compensation to the now former employee as well as additional training to “relevant management.”
This claim and settlement are of particular note because of the various disconnects statutes create when attempting to both accommodate and ignore that someone might be a mother. The recent Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires that pregnancy be assessed in the same manner as a disability and that pregnant women be afforded appropriate reasonable accommodation in the workplace in relation to the needs of the...
Dermatology services provider ADCS Clinics LLC and others settled a False Claims Act suit alleging they billed federal health-care programs for medically unnecessary exams and directed providers t...