Source One Staffing to Pay to Settle Multiple EEOC Discrimination Claims of Civil Rights Act & Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

PRESS RELEASE | May 11, 2015
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Source One Staffing to Pay $800,000 to Settle Multiple EEOC Discrimination Claims

Among Many Violations, Chicago-Area Staffing Company Assigned Temporary Employees To Clients on the Basis of Sex, Federal Agency Charged.

CHICAGO - A Chicago-area staffing agency will pay $800,000 under a consent decree resolving two discrimination lawsuits filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

The EEOC's two lawsuits alleged multiple violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Specifically, the EEOC charged that Source One Staffing, Inc. engaged in the following unlawful conduct: the company 1) assigned female employees to a known hostile work environment; 2) retaliated against two female employees who reported that their supervisor was making sexual advances toward them; 3) categorized jobs as "men's work" or "women's work" and assigned employees accordingly; 4) asked impermissible pre-employment medical questions in violation of the ADA; and 5) failed or refused to assign employees to certain jobs because of their race and/or national origin.

The EEOC filed the suits in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division (EEOC v. Source One Staffing, Inc., Civil Action Nos. 11-cv-06754 & 15-cv-01958) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process in both cases. 

The consent decree settling the suits, entered by U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis on May 6, provides $800,000 in monetary relief.  Of that, $70,000 will go to the sexual harassment and retali­ation victims. The remaining $730,000 will be distributed evenly to a class of female employees who were not considered for certain work on the basis of their sex.  

The decree also requires Source One to take the following affirmative steps: 1) train its employees on employees' rights under Title VII and the ADA; 2) report complaints of discrimination during the decree's three-year term; 3) change its employment policies and practices to conform to the ADA and Title VII; and 4) post a notice of the decree at all of its locations.  Finally, Source One's compliance with decree will overseen by an independent monitor, Chris Wilmes of Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd.

"While the consent decree puts an end to four-years of litigation between EEOC and Source One, the matter is far from over," said John Hendrickson, regional attorney for the EEOC's Chicago District.  "The EEOC - through the appointment of an independent monitor - will keep a watchful eye on Source One to make sure it fulfills all of its obligations under the decree for the next three years.  If Source One fails to adhere to the decree, the EEOC will do everything in its power to ensure compliance."

Julianne Bowman, director of the EEOC's Chicago District Office, added, "The EEOC determined that Source One violated federal anti-discrimination law in multiple ways, which was  alarming, and clearly required serious EEOC action.  Further, staffing agencies must understand that they are not immune from enforcement of federal anti-discrimination laws.  This decree sends a strong signal to other staffing agencies that if they engage in discrimination - especially several different kinds of it -- it will come at a high cost."

The EEOC's Chicago District Office is responsible for processing charges of discrimination, administrative enforcement and the conduct of agency litigation in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and North and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its website at www.eeoc.gov.