Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Employers pay over $345K for religious discrimination, sexual harassment; new ADA lawsuit announced, (Mar 11, 2026)

By Jonathan Anderson

One employer agreed to pay $95,000 for failing to take appropriate action in response to repeated complaints of sexual harassment.

Three employers agreed to pay a total of $345,200 to resolve allegations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that the employers violated Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 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. The EEOC also announced a new lawsuit alleging disability discrimination in violation of the ADA.

Religious accommodation. A New York youth organization will pay $100,200 and provide other relief to settle an EEOC Title VII religious discrimination and retaliation charge. The EEOC had alleged that the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association (YMHA/YWHA) of Washington Heights and Inwood failed to provide a Christian employee with a religious accommodation to allow her to attend Sunday services and meetings required of her as a church leader, and then retaliated against her. As part of a conciliation agreement, the employer agreed to revise its written policies with procedures for requesting religious accommodations; conduct annual anti-discrimination training with a focus on religious accommodations; report to the EEOC requests for religious accommodations and complaints of religious discrimination and retaliation; and post EEOC notices, including a notice regarding the resolution of this matter. The EEOC will monitor compliance with the agreement for two and a half years.

Religious accommodation. Rex Healthcare, Inc., a health care provider in Raleigh, North Carolina, will pay $150,000 and furnish other relief to resolve an EEOC Title VII religious accommodation lawsuit filed by the EEOC. The lawsuit alleged that Rex Healthcare denied a remote employee’s request to be exempted from the employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy as a religious accommodation. The employer had approved the employee’s requests in 2019 and 2020 for a religious accommodation from a flu vaccine requirement, but according to the EEOC, the employer denied each of the employee’s four requests for an exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine requirement. The EEOC alleged that Rex Healthcare rejected the employee’s “sincerely held religious belief that receiving vaccines is inconsistent with God’s will, and despite the information she provided in support of her position.” The employer fired the employee in November 2021 for refusing to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to the suit. In addition to paying monetary damages, the two-year consent decree prohibits Rex Healthcare from discriminating and retaliating against employees based on their religion. The employer must also adopt and implement a new policy to address requests for religious accommodation and provide training on religious accommodations.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Eastern District of North Carolina; the case is No. 5:24-cv-00739-BO.

Sexual harassment. JACO Coach Company, LLC, a transportation company in Louisville, Kentucky, will pay $95,000 and provide other relief to settle an EEOC Title VII sexual harassment charge. According to the EEOC, a former employee alleged that during her employment she was subjected to sexual harassment and unwanted touching around January 2024 by a male coworker. The EEOC determined there was reasonable cause to believe the company violated federal anti-discrimination law when it failed to remedy workplace sexual harassment for the individual who filed the charge, and for a class of female coworkers also affected by the harassment. The EEOC’s charge investigation found that the same coworker had been the subject of complaints going back to 2023 and the company, having received these repeated complaints, failed to take appropriate action. Although the employer disputed the allegations, it entered into a conciliation agreement with the EEOC to resolve the matter. In addition to the monetary relief, the employer agreed to provide training to employees and establish sexual harassment policies and reporting procedures. Additionally, the company will post a notice to all employees about the resolution of this charge and their rights under federal anti-discrimination law. The EEOC will monitor compliance over the agreement’s three-year term.

Disability discrimination. Schneider National, Inc., a transportation and logistics company, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by denying a job applicant’s request to bring her service dog to work and withdrawing a job officer because of her disability, according to a lawsuit filed by the EEOC. The suit alleges that Schneider, based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, extended a conditional offer of employment to a qualified job candidate in the Baltimore region in September 2023. The next day, after learning she had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and needed her service dog, the company withdrew her job offer pending further review. In response to Schneider’s request for additional information, the woman disclosed that her dog was certified as a service animal, trained to alleviate and prevent symptoms of PTSD, and had successfully accompanied her in a truck while she trained and obtained her Class A commercial driver’s license. Schneider refused to allow the applicant to drive with her service dog as a reasonable accommodation, the suit alleged.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the District of Maryland; the case is No. 1:26-cv-00905-JMC.

Companies: Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association (YMHA/YWHA) of Washington Heights and Inwood; Rex Healthcare, Inc.; JACO Coach Company, LLC; Schneider National, Inc.

News: AgencyNews Discrimination DisabilityDiscrimination SexualHarassment ReligiousDiscrimination RemediesDamages Retaliation