Laundry facility that allegedly refused to hire non-Hispanic workers settles with EEOC for $1.1M

Posted by News Room 13 August 2024

Dive Brief:

  • Radiant Services Corp., a laundry facility located in Gardena, California, will pay $1.1 million to settle U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that it failed to recruit and hire workers based on their race and national origin, according to an Aug. 7 media release from the agency (EEOC v. Radiant Services Corp., BaronHR, LLC, et al.).  
  • According to the 2022 complaint, Radiant Services “consistently maintained a largely homogeneous Hispanic/Latino(a) workforce” at its Gardena facility, relying on personnel referred through staffing firm BaronHR. Radiant also requested male and female workers for different types of positions, the complaint alleged.
  • In addition to paying more than $1 million, Radiant Services will submit to monitoring from EEOC, designate an internal EEO coordinator and provide training for nonmanagement, management and HR staff in English and Spanish, among other actions.

Dive Insight:

Radiant Services’ $1.1 million consent decree is part of a larger settlement deal; in April, EEOC entered into a $2.2 million settlement agreement with BaronHR, making the total amount to be distributed to class members $3.3 million, EEOC said.

The approach is not unusual for EEOC, which, in similar cases, has previously pursued both the staffing agency placing workers and the company using the agency. 

For example, earlier this year, EEOC entered into a $2 million settlement agreement with dried fruit company National Raisin after it allegedly subjected female workers to a sexually hostile work environment. Just a few weeks ago, EEOC also settled with Select Staffing — the company that provided the workers — for $500,000 after it allegedly failed to take corrective measures when informed of the harassment and assumed National Raisin would respond, according to EEOC. 

“​​Barriers to recruitment and hiring remain a persistent problem in low-skill and low-wage industries,” Anna Park, regional attorney for EEOC’s Los Angeles district office, said in the agency’s release. “Employers cannot hide behind staffing agencies, to carry out their discriminatory hiring preferences. The EEOC will continue to enforce Title VII to ensure that workers are afforded equal employment opportunities under federal law.”