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Distribution company to pay $710K to settle EEOC sex bias suit

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EEOC

A distribution company will pay $709,971 to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sex discrimination lawsuit in which it was charged with refusing to hire female job applicants for order selector positions, the agency said Thursday.

The EEOC said company officials at Kenneth O. Lester Co. Inc., which does business as PFG Customized Distribution – Indiana, expressly stated sex-based criteria for the order-selector position in its Kendallville, Indiana, warehouse, including making statements to female applicants that the company prefers to hire men for that position.

The EEOC said also that the company discriminatorily assigned females to the small wares section of the warehouse where they had less earnings potential.

The company was charged with violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the lawsuit, EEOC v. Kenneth O. Lester Co., Inc. d/b/a/ PFG Customized Distribution – Indiana, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The three-year consent decree settling the lawsuit provides $650,000 in monetary relief to the class of female applicants who were not hired; $39,971 to the female applicant who filed the underlying EEOC charge and $20,000 to a class of females who were subjected to work assignments based on their sex, the EEOC said.

The consent decree also enjoins PFG from failing to hire women in order selector positions because of their sex, among other provisions.

The company’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, the EEOC said a Maryland heating, ventilation and air conditioning design and installation services company will pay $210,000 to settle a pay discrimination lawsuit in which it was charged with paying female employees less than their male counterparts.