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Checkers franchisee settles EEOC gender pay discrimination lawsuit for $100,000

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A West Philadelphia fast food restaurant franchisee has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a gender pay discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Market Burgers L.L.C., which conducts business as Checkers in West Philadelphia, was charged by the EEOC with paying female shift managers and female cashiers and sandwich makers lower wages than their male counterparts even though they did substantially equal work, the agency said Wednesday in a statement.

Market Burgers also allegedly suppressed the women's wages through discriminatory job assignments, such as scheduling them for fewer hours than their male counterparts, according to the agency.

In addition to paying $100,000 to current and former female employees, the restaurant will increase the female workers' hourly wages to match the rate it pays males performing equal work, among other provisions of the settlement agreement.

“As this lawsuit demonstrated, discrimination in hourly rates of pay and scheduling can result in substantial lost income for female workers and their families,” district director Spencer H. Lewis Jr. of the EEOC's Philadelphia district office said in the statement,

“This is a significant settlement because it remedies pay discrimination based on gender for lower-wage workers and changes the restaurant's compensation practices to ensure that female employees are paid the same as their male counterparts.”

Market Burgers' attorney had no comment.