The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled a lawsuit with Dillard’s over the firing of a high-performing African American sales associate who also happened to be pregnant. Dillard’s, a national department store based in Little Rock, Arkansas, will pay $70,000 to the sales associate as part of the 2.5-year consent decree. This case should remind businesses to deal with claims of discrimination, instead of hoping it will go away.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit retaliation for complaining about discrimination
In February 2020, the sales associate told her new store manager about her existing pregnancy accommodations. A few days later, the manager revoked the accommodations and transferred the employee to another department. The lawsuit alleges that the transfer was punitive in nature, because it would be a struggle for the employee to maintain her sales numbers.
The employee made a complaint about the transfer, alleging discrimination due to her pregnancy and her race. Instead of dealing with the complaint, Dillard’s reduced the employee’s hours. As workers returned from furlough due to the pandemic closures, the employee was not asked to return. In August 2020, Dillard’s formally terminated the sales associate. The EEOC contends this conduct was retaliation and filed a lawsuit after attempting to reach a settlement through its conciliation process.
Lawsuit resolved
“Federal law protects and preserves an employee’s right to speak out when they see or experience discrimination or retaliation,” said Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office.
Dillard’s not only owes monetary damages to the sales associate, but it also must train managers and employees about Title VII and retaliation. In addition, the company will review its employment policies and allow the EEOC to monitor complaints for two and a half years. But this is not the first time Dillard’s has come under fire from the EEOC. Four years ago, in 2020, Dillard’s settled another racial discrimination lawsuit for failing to promote African American employees. The cost of that lawsuit was $900,000 in back pay and compensatory damages to those who were denied promotions.
Dawn Brotherton is a Sr. Staff Writer at The American Genius with an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma. She is an experienced business writer with over 10 years of experience in SEO and content creation. Since 2017, she has earned $60K+ in grant writing for a local community center, which assists disadvantaged adults in the area.
