Our entry of June 29, 2010 reported on a staffing company (Spencer Reed) which entered into a “consent decree” to settle a case filed by the EEOC under Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”). On June 15, 2010, another staffing company similarly entered into a consent decree with the EEOC, in a case filed under the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”). In EEOC v. Balance Staffing, N.D. Ill., No. 1:09-cv-6004, June 15, 2010, the EEOC claimed that the company hired Jocelyn Snower but that the offer was revoked when it discovered that she was blind.
As in the Spencer Reed consent decree, Balance Staffing not only made a cash payment to Ms. Snower, in this case in the sum of $100,000, but was also required to provide annual EEO training to all of the involved managers and human resources employees, and to report to the EEOC all future discrimination and retaliation complaints.
Another expensive lesson learned too late — the company should have practiced “preventive law,” and trained its managers and employees in advance.