Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Agency nets $686K to settle allegations of race and religious discrimination, retaliation, (Aug 6, 2025)

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

One employer paid $525,000 to settle allegations that coworkers and supervisors frequently used racial slurs and openly displayed nooses and other white supremacist symbols.

In separate developments, the EEOC announced combined recovery of $686,000 from employers in North Carolina, Maryland, and Texas to settle allegations that employees were subjected to religious and race discrimination and retaliation. The federal agency also resolved allegations that a pair of employers in Nevada refused to provide religious accommodations to mandatory COVID vaccination policies.

Refused to permit scrub skirt as a religious accommodation. The Teeth Doctors agreed to pay $61,000 to resolve allegations that the North Carolina-based dental company violated Title VII when it failed to provide an employee with a religious accommodation. The company purportedly fired an employee after she requested an accommodation to wear a scrub skirt instead of scrub pants due to her sincerely held religious beliefs.

In addition to the back pay and compensatory damages, The Teeth Doctors will establish or update written policies and procedures prohibiting discrimination and harassment based on religion and retaliation for complaining about, reporting, or otherwise opposing such discrimination; train supervisors on EEO rights and responsibilities, with a focus on religious accommodations, discrimination, harassment and retaliation; and post a notice about the resolution of this matter and the laws enforced by the EEOC.

Race-based pay disparity. Pursuant to an 18-month consent decree, Sinclair Broadcast Group will pay $100,000 in back pay and compensatory and punitive damages to resolve allegations that it violated Title VII by subjecting a black female financial analyst to unlawful pay discrimination and constructively discharging her because of her race. Despite her strong work performance at the nationwide broadcasting company, she was undercompensated compared to other analysts, the EEOC said. When she reported the pay disparity to her manager and to HR at Sinclair, the company refused to adjust her salary to remedy the unequal pay.

Sinclair will also provide periodic reporting, monitoring, and training to employees to ensure compliance with Title VII, and maintain policies stating it does not prohibit employees from discussing or disclosing their pay.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the District of Maryland; the case is No. 1:22-cv-02477.

Egregious racial harassment. Under a three-year consent decree, TNT Crane & Rigging, Inc., one of the largest crane service providers in North America, will pay $525,000 and furnish other relief to settle a Title VII racial harassment and retaliation lawsuit. Four black employees were subjected to a hostile work environment by their coworkers and supervisors, including frequent use of racial slurs and the open display of nooses and other white supremacist symbols, according to the EEOC. Despite their complaints, the company failed to take action to stop the harassment. A white employee who witnessed the racial harassment also allegedly reported it to company managers and to HR, but the company failed to act diligently to correct the harassment. Instead, TNT Crane reduced the white employee’s work hours in retaliation for his complaints and failed to stop mistreatment from his white coworkers, which forced him to quit his job, the federal agency said.

In addition to paying monetary relief for the five workers, the decree prohibits TNT Crane from engaging in racial discrimination, including creating or tolerating a racially hostile work environment. It also requires the company to adopt and implement a written anti-harassment and discrimination policy, retaliation prevention procedures, and complaint procedures; provide non-discrimination training to employees; provide training on conducting harassment and discrimination investigations to employees who are assigned that function; and report all future employee complaints of racial harassment, race discrimination, or related retaliation to the EEOC.

The EEOC brought its lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division; the case is No. 4:23-cv-00881-P.

Failed to provide religious accommodation to mandatory vax. Aria Resort and Casino, LLC, and the Luxor Resort and Casino, LLC, resolved charges that they violated Title VII when they denied employees religious accommodations to the companies’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate policies. Without admitting liability, both the Aria and the Luxor entered into separate conciliation agreements with the EEOC under which they will provide Title VII training to their HR department, with a specific focus on religious accommodations. The EEOC will monitor compliance with the agreements.

“We commend both the Aria and the Luxor for putting in place training measures that will have a lasting impact on workers seeking religious accommodations in the workplace,” said Michael Mendoza, director of the EEOC’s Las Vegas local office. “It is important that all employers understand that federal law requires reasonable religious accommodations, unless such an accommodation would pose an undue hardship that is substantial in the overall context of the employer's business.”

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