EEOC files 15 suits in 10 days

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By Correy Stephenson
Dolan Media

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission didn’t stop to enjoy the last burst of summer, instead filing 15 discrimination suits over the last 10 days of August.

The defendants in the suits included large corporations like Ford Motor Co. and Kohl’s Department Stores, as well as the government of American Samoa.

The suits against Ford and Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s both allege violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming that the companies failed to provide reasonable accommodations to employees.

In the Ford case, for example, the agency alleges that an employee who suffered from irritable bowel syndrome was not allowed to telecommute, while in the suit against Kohl’s, the EEOC claims that the company denied a request by a diabetic employee for a regular schedule.

The other suits cover a broad range of discrimination, from age discrimination claims against American Samoa to a religious discrimination claim against The Patty Tipton Co. to multiple sexual harassment suits against Gaucho’s Brazilian Steakhouse Inc., New Pine Ridge Restaurant and Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant.

In its suit against American Samoa – the first against the U.S. territory – the EEOC alleges that in an attempt to create job openings for younger employees, the government engaged in a campaign to remove its older workers, often by reassigning them to undesirable positions in an attempt to force retirement or resignation.