A temporary staffing agency based in Kirkland, Washington that complied with some business clients’ requests to provide only male temps has agreed to pay $875,000 and other relief to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sex discrimination lawsuit.
The EEOC announced the settlement on Wednesday with SmartTalent LLC, which it said had engaged in a pattern of discrimination against women in hiring and job assignments since at least 2015 by complying with some clients’ requests for male workers only, instead of rejecting these requests as unlawful. Their actions violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion or gender, the EEOC said.
Under the three-year consent decree that settles the EEOC lawsuit, SmartTalent will pay $875,000 to eligible claimants and will retain an independent consultant to draft and implement policies and procedures prohibiting discrimination against female workers and investigate all complaints of discrimination.
SmartTalent will also retain a third party to train its managers and recruiters on the requirements of Title VII and SmartTalent’s new anti-discrimination policies. Additionally, SmartTalent will be required to hold management and recruiters accountable for compliance with its anti-discrimination policies and procedures through written evaluations and active monitoring.
“The customer is not always right and, as EEOC’s guidance for employment agencies makes clear, staffing agencies violate the law when they comply with a client’s sex-based preference, or a preference based on any other prohibited characteristic,” said Nancy Sienko, director of the EEOC’s San Francisco District, which includes Washington. “Hiring and referrals should be based on a worker’s merits, not stereotypes.”
