Company Discovers Another Great Way To Make Friends At The EEOC
No sooner did we post our five best ways for an employer to avoid loneliness by attracting the attention of the EEOC did a Missouri manufacturer see if it could find a better way to make friends there.
And it did! The EEOC was there almost immediately! What a way to make friends!
So we can confidently give you yet another sure fire way to attract the EEOC.
According to a new lawsuit filed by the EEOC, a former employee filed a charge with the EEOC that the company “violated the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) by paying female employees less than male employees for performing equal work. EEOC investigated and issued no finding on the pay discrimination charge one way or the other.”
The EEOC simply issued to the former employee the requisite Notice Of Right To Sue – a Right To Sue letter.
Not content to leave well enough alone – or, as we suspect, a little bit lonely for new friends at the EEOC, the company sued the former employee for malicious prosecution “within weeks” of the end of the EEOC’s investigation.
As the company must have hoped, the EEOC sued it for retaliation.
What a brilliant bid for attention! Why didn’t we think of this! Now the company is lonely no more!
The EEOC District Director discussed this alleged retaliation and said simply that “EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement Plan has made a national enforcement priority of guaranteeing everyone access to the justice system without intimidation. [The company’s] action of bringing a baseless suit against [the former employee] is an egregious attempt to undermine her rights.”
And an EEOC attorney said that “An employer is only making things worse when it punishes someone for making a discrimination charge, even if it strongly disagrees. The EPA protects employees who have the courage to challenge what they believe to be discriminatory compensation practices from retaliation by their employers. Workers need to know that the law offers significant protections so they can confidently report evidence they may have of unequal pay.”
The company didn’t respond to a request by a local paper for comment.
Probably too busy playing with its new friends!
