Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—$800K recovered to remedy discrimination and retaliation; new ADA suit filed; Project Firewall progresses, (Dec 5, 2025)

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

“The EEOC is committed to protecting workers in addiction recovery from disability discrimination, especially those in labor markets that have been severely impacted by the opioid epidemic.”

In separate developments, the EEOC announced its recovery of $800,000 from employers in California and Mississippi to resolve allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation, and race and national origin discrimination, respectively. The federal antidiscrimination agency also filed a new lawsuit against an employer in West Virginia for reported disability discrimination related to methadone use, and released new material supporting Project Firewall, aimed to safeguard the rights, wages, and job opportunities of highly skilled American workers.

Young female workers sexually harassed by supervisors, coworkers. Swami’s Café, a chain of casual breakfast and lunch restaurants in San Diego County, California, and Honey’s Bistro will pay $650,000 and provide other relief to settle allegations that they violated Title VII when, starting in 2019, nine locations allowed a class of young female employees, including some teenagers, to be subjected to sexual harassment by male supervisors and coworkers. Swami’s Café and Honey’s Bistro did not properly monitor the workplace, which left the employees vulnerable to ongoing harassment, including frequent and offensive sex-based remarks and advances, as well as unwelcome touching, according to the EEOC. As a result of this hostile work environment, female employees purportedly complained and were then subjected to retaliation or forced to quit their jobs.

Pursuant to a two-year consent decree, Swami’s Café and Honey Bistro will retain an EEO monitor; establish a complaint procedure and a toll-free complaint hotline; ensure strong policies and procedures are in place for reporting and handling discrimination, harassment and retaliation; conduct mandatory training for supervisors and non-supervisory personnel; assess supervisory performance based on EEO compliance; maintain records; complete audits; and post notice of this settlement. The company must also remove any negative references to the harassment, discrimination, and retaliation from the employees’ personnel files and offer the individuals who were fired or quit the opportunity to be reinstated.

“We continue to see young women experience sexual harassment in the restaurant industry, often during their first job experience,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Anna Park. “Employers have a duty to protect young workers by putting in place strong policies and procedures that ensure managers and supervisors are held accountable for maintaining a safe and respectful workplace.”

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Southern District of California; the case is No. 3:23-cv-00902-LAB-NLS.

Foreign workers treated better than American workers. Pursuant to a three-year consent decree, Seward and Son Planting Company will pay $150,000 and provide other relief to settle allegations that the farming operation in Louise, Mississippi, violated Title VII starting on December 1, 2020, when it began hiring immigrant agricultural workers from a foreign country to supplement its existing workforce, which consisted of primarily black farm workers of American national origin. Seward and Son discriminated against its American workers by providing the foreign workers with preferential job assignments that were less strenuous, and had more work hours, higher pay, and higher bonuses, according to the EEOC.

In addition to monetary damages for the class of black American laborers, Seward and Son must also review, revise as necessary, and disseminate its antidiscrimination policy instructing employees about their rights and how to report discrimination or retaliation; annually train its managers and employees on discrimination and retaliation; and provide other injunctive relief to prevent such unlawful conduct in the future.

The EEOC filed brought it lawsuit in the Northern District of Mississippi; the case is No. 4:25-cv-00155.

Unlawful methadone policy. Wrightway Ready-Mix, LLC, and Wright Concrete & Construction, Inc., related concrete-construction companies operating in Delbarton, West Virginia, violated the ADA when they questioned a job applicant about using methadone as part of medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction, and then refused to hire him because of his answer, according to a new EEOC lawsuit. The hiring manager allegedly asked him what medications he was currently taking. The applicant said he was taking methadone; the hiring manager then told him that Wrightway would not hire him due to a longstanding company policy prohibiting employment of workers who take methadone. When the applicant then spoke with the onsite HR head, she purportedly affirmed that Wrightway would not hire him because of its policy of refusing to hire workers who take methadone. The EEOC claims that because of these policies and practices, Wrightway has excluded a class of workers from employment in violation of the ADA.

“To observe the federal mandate to provide equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities, employers cannot impose unlawful barriers to entry for workers with records of opioid addiction—including workers who are taking methadone and other medications as part of their recovery,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence. “The EEOC is committed to protecting workers in addiction recovery from disability discrimination, especially those in labor markets that have been severely impacted by the opioid epidemic.”

EEOC District Director Karen McDonough noted, “All job applicants, whether or not they have disabilities, have a right not to be forced to answer questions which are likely to elicit information about whether they have disabilities before they receive job offers.”

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Southern District of West Virginia; the case is No. 2:25-cv-00711.

Project Firewall. The DOL and the EEOC are partners in Project Firewall to combat illegal national origin discrimination, particularly against American workers. The EEOC released new and updated educational materials to reaffirm and emphasize legal protections against national origin discrimination, which can include preferring foreign workers by advertising job openings as only available to H-1B visa holders. The EEOC’s new material included a national origin discrimination fact sheet, to help employers and workers understand their rights and responsibilities under Title VII.

EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said: “The EEOC is here to protect all workers from unlawful national origin discrimination—including American workers. Unlawful bias against American workers, in violation of Title VII, is a large-scale problem in multiple industries nationwide. Many employers have policies and practices preferring illegal aliens, migrant workers, or non-immigrant guest workers (guest worker visa holders) over American workers—in direct violation of federal employment law. The EEOC is committed to ensuring employers and workers better understand the even-handed protections provided to all workers by Title VII’s prohibition against national origin discrimination.”

“Nothing justifies illegal national origin discrimination—whether rooted in cost of labor, customer preferences, or stereotypes.”

Companies: Swami’s Café; Honey’s Bistro; Seward and Son Planting Company; Wrightway Ready-Mix, LLC; Wright Concrete & Construction, Inc.

News: AgencyNews Discharge Discrimination DisabilityDiscrimination Immigration NationalOrigin RaceDiscrimination Retaliation SexDiscrimination SexualHarassment RemediesDamages