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Bakery settles suits alleging bias against non-Hispanics

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A Texas bakery has agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle lawsuits charging it with favoring Hispanic job applicants.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday that Lawler Foods Inc. and Lawler Foods Ltd. discriminated against three applicants and a class of African-American and non-Hispanic applicants by failing to hire them for entry-level jobs in its Humble, Texas, facility because of their race.

The EEOC said the company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by intentionally failing to hire black and other non-Hispanic applicants for jobs, and by using hiring practices, including word-of-mouth recruiting and a preference for Spanish advertising media, that had an adverse impact on black and other non-Hispanic applicants “without any business justification.”

In addition to paying a total of $1,042,000, Lawler agreed to seek to recruit and hire black and other non-Hispanic job applicants for its production jobs, among other terms of the four-year consent decree.

“We are pleased that we have reached an agreement,” said EEOC General Counsel David Lopez, in a statement. “Moving forward, qualified applicants will be judged by their talents and skill and not passed over because of their race or national origin — and those who were wrongfully denied positions will be compensated.”

Lawler’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.