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A Cleveland manufacturer will pay $700,000 and offer jobs to at least 40 women to settle a class action gender discrimination lawsuit, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.
The EEOC's suit accused Presrite Corp. of engaging in widespread discrimination against women at one or more of its three plants that make gears and other industrial parts.
It said Presrite consistently passed over female applicants in favor of less-qualified males for entry-level positions at the plants, and that women who were hired for such positions were harassed.
The firm was charged with violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and keeping inadequate records of employment applications.
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Under terms of decree signed April 24 by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Vaughan in Cleveland, the company will pay $700,000 in compensatory damages to establish a class fund for women who were denied jobs. It also requires the company to offer jobs to at least 40 women identified by the EEOC before hiring any current applicants, the EEOC said.
In addition, the decree requires Presrite to implement several measures designed to prevent future discrimination, such as filing periodic reports to the EEOC comparing the number of female and male job applicants with the number actually hired.
“As demonstrated in this case, the EEOC is committed to enforcing Title VII violations in all aspects of employment — particularly where employers refuse to hire women for jobs that have been, or are perceived to have been, traditionally filled by men,” EEOC Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence said Tuesday in a statement.
“Here, the consent decree not only includes substantive monetary relief, but also compels the employer to hire a significant number of women,” she said.
A Presrite spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.