©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2025 EDITION | 68 67 | EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2025 EDITION ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP F. Transportation & Logistics The EEOC filed a number of lawsuits against companies in the transportation and logistics industries in 2024. The greatest number of these suits concerned alleged violations of the ADA, including discrimination against those with hearing impairments and on issues related to leave and return to work policies. Other suits related to alleged discriminatory hiring and harassment in the workplace. KEY CASES FILED IN FY 2024 EEOC v. Federal Express Corp., Case No. 0:24-cv-03559 (D. Minn.). The EEOC filed a lawsuit charging that the company’s 100% healed policy for drivers with medical restrictions violated the ADA. According to the lawsuit, the company’s policy of placing ramp transport drivers on 90-day temporary light-duty assignment followed by unpaid medical leave for a year unless they could show they were able to return to work without restriction denied the drivers reasonable accommodations that might have kept them working. The EEOC seeks monetary relief for a class of aggrieved individuals. EEOC v. Lubin Logistics Company, Case No. 1:24-cv-01911-JPB-LTW (N.D. Ga.). The EEOC sued the company for allegedly violating the ADA by firing an employee who suffered from lupus. According to the lawsuit, a “flare-up” caused the employee to experience severe pain, so the employee returned to the delivery terminal prior to the end of his shift. A company supervisor fired the employee, stating that he could no longer work for the company due to his medical condition. EEOC v. Transportation Management Group, d/b/a Wilson Logistics, Case No. 1:24-cv-00640 (M.D.N.C.). The EEOC sued the company for allegedly violating the ADA by refusing to hire a deaf job applicant. According to the lawsuit, a deaf applicant who possessed a commercial driver’s license, had relevant experience, and had been granted an exemption from regulatory hearing requirements by the U.S. Department of Transportation sought work as a truck driver but was denied the job because the company did not hire individuals who communicate through sign language. 7 Transportation and Logistics Industry Merit Cases Filed in FY 2024 Charlotte Atlanta Chicago Dallas Phoenix 3 1 1 1 1 EEOC District Offices Bringing Suit & Number of Lawsuits Brought by Each District Statutory Basis for Suit 3: Title VII 4: ADA ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP • The EEOC suggests that the high tech workforce is generally younger than the total U.S. workforce; 40.8% of the high tech workforce are ages 25 to 39, but only 33.1% of the overall workforce. Workers over age 40 in the high tech workforce reportedly lost ground between 2014 and 2022, declining from 55.9% to 52.1%. Using the EEOC’s charge-filing data, the report also concluded that retaliation, disability discrimination, race discrimination, and sex discrimination were the four most common charges filed with the EEOC in the high-tech sector. The EEOC also found that age, pay, and genetic information discrimination charges were more prevalent in the high-tech sector than in other industries. Ultimately, the EEOC concluded that, progress towards diversity notwithstanding, the “magnitude of underrepresentation” suggested that discrimination contributed to the lower employment of women, Black workers, Hispanic workers, and older workers. The EEOC also concluded that the underrepresentation of Black, Hispanic, female, and older workers in the high-tech industry is due to “discriminatory barriers.” According to the EEOC’s report, there are barriers to equal employment for high tech jobs, which the Agency intends to address through heightened enforcement efforts. It is important for all employers – not just high tech employers – to understand that the EEOC’s report reflects the agency’s ongoing commitment to aggressive enforcement addressing discrimination in recruitment, hiring, and promotion practices, and its ongoing emphasis on devoting additional enforcement and litigation resources to the “high tech” sector. Both traditional technology employers and companies with significant STEM workforces should carefully review their employment practices and demographic data to avoid becoming targets of the EEOC’s enhanced enforcement efforts in this area.
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