Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Combined $517K resolves reported age, disability, pregnancy, religious, sex, and sexual harassment discrimination, (Sep 18, 2026)

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

“To be effective, [sexual harassment] procedures should include multiple ways an employee can report unlawful conduct. An employee’s only option should not be to report discrimination to the harasser, or to someone in a close relationship with the harasser.”

In separate developments, the EEOC announced that it has recovered a combined $517,230-plus in monetary relief for workers reportedly aggrieved by age, disability, pregnancy, religious, and/or sex discrimination or harassment. Most of the discrimination charges were resolved by conciliation prior to litigation.

Discrimination against pregnant employees. The antidiscrimination agency resolved two unrelated charges of pregnancy discrimination against Vital Systems and Condor Clug for a combined $97,000-plus in damages and other relief. The EEOC found that a pregnant worker at Vital Systems, a Reno-based company specializing in electronic equipment, was forced to ignore her doctor’s orders or face termination. An unrelated investigation showed that management at Condor Club refused to allow an employee to work her shifts at the San Francisco nightclub and bar after she disclosed her pregnancy. Both employers violated Title VII and the PWFA, according to the EEOC.

Vital systems. The Vital Systems employee alleged she was denied a reasonable accommodation and discharged because of her pregnancy. The EEOC found that upon learning of her pregnancy, the company attempted to impose an unwanted and unnecessary accommodation on her, reassigning her to a role in which she would operate machinery that used X-ray radiation. The day after her reassignment in August 2024, she provided a doctor’s note specifying that she should not be exposed to any form of radiation. Instead of weighing the expert medical advice of her doctor and providing a reasonable accommodation such as returning the employee to her original role, the company fired her on the spot, according to the EEOC’s investigation.

Vital Systems agreed to provide more than $57,000 in back pay and compensatory damages to the former employee and to update their reasonable accommodation policies and procedures; create a recordkeeping mechanism to track accommodation requests; provide extensive training to employees, managers, and HR personnel; and periodically report to the EEOC on its compliance with the agreement for four years.

Condor Club. The Condor Club employee allegedly disclosed to the general manager in November 2023 that she was pregnant, expressed her openness to work other roles, and followed up with a note from her doctor saying she currently had no restrictions on her work activities. Nonetheless, her employer failed to schedule her for any shifts, effectively discharging her, and refused to consider any accommodation including reassignment, according to the EEOC’s investigation. The Condor Club also failed to consistently retain personnel records, including any records of communications concerning the interactive process and requests for pregnancy accommodation.

The employer agreed to provide $40,000 in compensatory damages and to conduct a review of its reasonable accommodation policies and procedures; create a recordkeeping mechanism to track accommodation requests; implement extensive training for employees, managers, and HR personnel; and provide compliance reporting every six months to EEOC for three years.

Owner sexually harassed female employees. Moore Comfort Home Care, LLC, agreed to pay $60,000 and provide other relief to settle allegations that it violated Title VII when an owner of the private home healthcare services provider to clients in Suffolk, Virginia, and the surrounding areas subjected at least three women to sexual comments and unwelcome physical touching, causing at least one of them to resign. Another company owner was purportedly aware of the ongoing harassment that took place between at least July 2022 through the fall of 2023, yet failed to take steps to stop the behavior or otherwise protect employees from unwelcome sexual comments or conduct.

Under the three-year consent decree settling the lawsuit, Moore Comfort Home Care, LLC will also revise its anti-harassment and discrimination policy; hire a third-party monitor; conduct trainings on its anti-harassment and discrimination policy; post employee notices to inform workers on how to report harassment; and submit regularly scheduled compliance reports to the EEOC.

“It is essential that employers have effective procedures in place to prevent and remedy sexual harassment in the workplace,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Melinda C. Dugas. “To be effective, procedures should include multiple ways an employee can report unlawful conduct. An employee’s only option should not be to report discrimination to the harasser, or to someone in a close relationship with the harasser.”

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division; the case is No. 2:25-cv-00591.

Denied intermittent leave for chemotherapy. Butterball, LLC, will pay $230,000 and provide other relief to settle a complaint that the poultry processing company doing business in Mt. Olive, North Carolina, violated the ADA when it denied leave to a long-term employee who informed the company of her cancer diagnosis and need for intermittent leave to receive chemotherapy and recover from those treatments. The company referred the employee to its third-party benefits administrator, but the leave was never granted. The employee accrued attendance points for the cancer-related absences and was fired for violating the company’s attendance policy.

Under the two-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit, Butterball will ensure effective policies and procedures are in place to govern the receipt and processing of requests for reasonable accommodations under the ADA; provide leave policies to employees in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole; identify a liaison to facilitate communications and assist employees with submission of requests or claims to a third-party administrator; provide training on the ADA to HR and benefits employees; and provide periodic reports to the EEOC.

“Employers that hire third-party benefits administrators must ensure that effective policies and procedures are in place to meet the employer’s statutory obligations under federal workplace discrimination laws,” Dugas explained. “An employer cannot delegate its responsibility for complying with the ADA.”

The EEOC brought its lawsuit in the Eastern District of North Carolina; the case is No. 5:26-cv-00202-FL.

Refused religious accommodation. Durham, North Carolina-based N.C. Detective Agency agreed to pay $65,231 in compensatory damages and back pay, and take other corrective actions to resolve a discrimination charge that the security company violated Title VII when an employee asked to be excused from work due to a Muslim religious holiday, but the request was denied. The company was aware of the employee’s need for a religious accommodation but did not engage in the legally required interactive process, and instead terminated her in June 2025 when she did not report for duty, the EEOC said.

N.C. Detective Agency did not admit liability but also agreed to establish written policies prohibiting religious discrimination, procedures for addressing religious accommodation requests in the future and train all employees, including supervisors, on EEO rights and responsibilities, with a focus on Title VII and its requirements. It will in addition post a workplace notice concerning EEO rights.

Sex- and age-based discrimination. Pella, Iowa-based Lely North America, Inc., will provide $65,000 in back pay, compensatory damages and attorney’s fees to resolve a discrimination charge that the international agricultural technology company violated Title VII and the ADEA when it failed to provide a wage increase to an employee based on sex and permitted the worker to be harassed and constructively discharged based on age.

Under the conciliation agreement resolving the charge, Lely will also train all North American employees, including supervisors, managers, and HR employees about their responsibilities and the rights of employees under Title VII and the ADEA; provide compliance-related reporting to the EEOC; and submit to EEOC monitoring.

Companies: Vital Systems; Condor Club; Moore Comfort Home Care, LLC; Butterball, LLC; N.C. Detective Agency; Lely North America, Inc.

News: AgencyNews Discharge Discrimination AgeDiscrimination DisabilityDiscrimination PregnancyDiscrimination ReligiousDiscrimination SexDiscrimination SexualHarassment EmployeeLeave RemediesDamages