Federal Suit Charges Staffing Agency Failed to Honor Agreement Concerning National Origin Discrimination
LONGVIEW, Wash. – Total Employment and Management (TEAM), a staffing agency based in Moses Lake, Washington, violated the law by refusing to comply with the terms of a conciliation agreement regarding a classwide national origin discrimination finding, according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Sept. 26.
According to the lawsuit, TEAM participated in EEOC conciliation, a process to resolve charges informally before litigation, and agreed to resolve a discrimination charge filed against the company under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC and TEAM agreed to a conciliation agreement requiring the company to pay $276,000 to the aggrieved individuals over three years, at a 5.42% monthly interest rate. The company also agreed to train its employees; revise its non-discrimination policy; post a notice of the agreement; and report to the EEOC on compliance with the agreement. Since that time, however, TEAM has refused to honor its obligations under the agreement, paying only a portion of the amount promised to the workers, and failing to report to the EEOC.
Failure to comply with an EEOC conciliation agreement is an additional violation of Title VII. The EEOC filed the suit (EEOC v. R & SL, Inc. d/b/a Total Employment and Management, No. 3:24-cv-05813) in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to enforce the terms of the agreement and recover its costs for having to bring this action in federal court.
“To give employers an opportunity to resolve discrimination charges with a minimum amount of disruption to their business, Congress wrote the conciliation process into the laws we enforce,” said EEOC Seattle Field Office Director Elizabeth Cannon. “We negotiated with TEAM to resolve the discrimination charges without taking the matter to court. The company must keep its word or face legal consequences.”
EEOC Trial Attorney Clive Pontusson said, “When an employer signs and then ignores an EEOC conciliation agreement, it signals contempt for the law and harms both the victims of discrimination and the public interest. We want to put employers on notice that the EEOC will enforce these agreements when respondents fail to comply.”
For more information on national origin discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/national-origin-discrimination
The EEOC’s Seattle Field Office has jurisdiction over Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
The EEOC prevents and remedies unlawful employment discrimination and advances equal opportunity for all. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.
