Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Employers pay $235K for racial discrimination, sexual harassment; new lawsuits also filed, (Aug 14, 2026)

By Jonathan Anderson

One employer allegedly refused to promote a highly qualified Asian-American doctor and instead hired a white applicant who lacked the required credentials.

Two employers entered into settlements totaling $235,000 to resolve allegations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that the employers violated Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. In addition to providing monetary relief to affected employees, the employers agreed to make changes to their policies, procedures, and training to avoid future discrimination. Separately, the EEOC announced two unrelated new lawsuits against employers operating in Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas that allege race and sex discrimination in violation of Title VII.

Race discrimination settlement. Tennessee Healthcare Management, Inc. (THM) will pay $200,000 and furnish other relief to settle an EEOC lawsuit alleging race, national origin, age discrimination, and retaliation under Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The suit accused THM of refusing to promote a highly qualified 58-year-old Asian-American doctor for a position in Kissimmee, Florida, instead hiring a younger white applicant who lacked the required credentials. When the doctor complained about the alleged discrimination, he received write-ups and rebuke and ultimately was fired, the EEOC alleged.

A two-year consent decree enjoins THM from failing to promote any employee within THM’s Graduate Medical Education research group because of the employee’s age, race, or national origin. Likewise, the decree prohibits the company from discharging any employee for participating in internal investigations or opposing discriminatory employment practices or because the employee filed a charge of discrimination with any state or federal agency.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Middle District of Tennessee.

Sexual harassment settlement. Ground Zero Biloxi LLC, dba Ground Zero Blues Club, a music venue and restaurant in Biloxi, Mississippi, will pay $35,000 and furnish other relief to settle a Title VII sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the EEOC. The lawsuit alleged that one of the company’s co-owners sexually harassed an assistant manager through repeated sexual comments and unwelcome physical contact. The suit further alleged that managers failed to protect the assistant manager from the co-owner’s harassment. According to the EEOC, the employer fired the assistant manager in retaliation for reporting the co-owner’s harassment to its chief financial officer.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Southern District of Mississippi; the case is No. 1:25-cv-00173-TBM-RPM.

Race discrimination lawsuit. Washington University in St. Louis violated Title VII when it fired an employee in retaliation for opposing race discrimination and filing a discrimination charge, according to a new EEOC lawsuit. The suit alleges that the employee complained to both the university and the EEOC that she was separated from her colleagues because of her race during a mandatory training session provided by the university’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. After she complained about the incident internally and later filed a charge with the EEOC, her supervisors retaliated against her by transferring her job responsibilities to other employees and eventually eliminating her position completely, resulting in her termination, the suit alleges.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Eastern District of Missouri; the case is No. 4:26-cv-01289.

Sex discrimination lawsuit. KLLM Transport Services LLC and subsidiary KLLM Driving Academy, Inc. violated Title VII by subjecting female student drivers to sex discrimination, according to a new EEOC lawsuit. The companies operate driver training academies in Lancaster, Texas, and Jackson, Mississippi. The complaint alleges that KLLM subjected female student drivers to overtly discriminatory training conditions because of sex, including adopting male trainers’ decisions to opt out of training female student drivers instead of providing separate single-sex sleeping quarters during training, a practice that forced women drivers to wait longer to start their training.

Additionally, the federal agency alleges that KLLM refused to pay female student drivers who opted to receive instruction from female trainers while they waited for a female trainer to be available, but paid all other student drivers, including males who opted for a male trainer, who were waiting to start their training. KLLM also allegedly mandated that only female student drivers who were willing to receive driving instruction from a male trainer notify their spouses or partners as a precondition to start training, according to EEOC’s complaint.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division; the case is No. 3:26-cv-02590-E.

Companies: Tennessee Healthcare Management, Inc.; Ground Zero Biloxi LLC; Ground Zero Blues Club; Washington University in St. Louis; KLLM Transport Services LLC; KLLM Driving Academy, Inc.

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