Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Agency files age discrimination lawsuit, subpoena enforcement action under Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, (Apr 11, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Allen Theatres, Inc. | R&L Carriers Shared Services, LLC
By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.
The EEOC’s subpoena enforcement action is its first under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission entered into a $250,000 settlement with a movie theater chain accused of violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act when it fired an employee based on his age and withheld health insurance coverage for employees aged 65 or older who were eligible for Medicare. The EEOC also filed suit against a freight transportation and logistics company to enforce a subpoena issued in its investigation of alleged violations of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and Title VII.
Age discrimination. The EEOC entered into a $250,000 settlement to resolve an ADEA lawsuit with Allen Theatres, Inc., which operates a chain of movie theaters in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. The lawsuit alleged that the employer’s president forced a theater manager to retire in September 2020 because he was 73 years old. The company refused to allow him to work in March 2021 when the theaters reopened after COVID-19 pandemic began. The EEOC further alleged the employer maintained a companywide discriminatory compensation policy that stopped paying for the manager’s family health insurance coverage because he was over 65 years old and eligible for Medicare. In addition to paying the settlement amount to the manager and other aggrieved individuals, the two-year consent decree settling the suit requires the employer to offer health insurance coverage under the company’s health benefit plan to any current employee who is 65 years old or over and not currently enrolled in the company’s plan. The consent decree also requires the employer to revise its policies to include prohibition of age discrimination, including robust investigative and training procedures relating to age discrimination.
The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the District of New Mexico; the case is No. 1:24-cv-00965-KWR-KK.
Sex, pregnancy discrimination. The EEOC filed a lawsuit against R&L Carriers Shared Services, LLC, an Illinois freight transportation and logistics company, to enforce a subpoena that the EEOC issued during their investigation of a charge alleging sex and pregnancy discrimination in violation of Title VII and the PWFA, which took effect in June 2023. A driver working for R&L Carriers alleged that the employers discriminated against her based on sex, failed to reasonably accommodate her pregnancy-related restrictions, and placed her on involuntary unpaid leave. The subpoena seeks, among other items, a list of employees who worked at the same location from 2023 to present and a list of any drivers in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota who requested accommodations for pregnancy-related restrictions from June 27, 2023, to the present.
The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois; the case is No. 25-cv-528.
Companies: Allen Theatres, Inc.; R&L Carriers Shared Services, LLC
News: AgencyNews PregnancyDiscrimination PensionBenefitPlans Discrimination SexDiscrimination AgeDiscrimination Discharge RemediesDamages