Sarah M. Block
Mon, 12/12/2022
On November 30, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland entered an Order approving a $62,500 settlement between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Jerry’s Chevrolet, Inc. and Jerry’s Motorcars, Inc., car dealerships in Baltimore, Maryland, in a lawsuit brought on behalf of a female dispatcher alleging violations of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Both the Equal Pay Act and Title VII prohibit employment discrimination based on gender as well as retaliation for complaining about unlawful discriminatory conduct. The case is styled EEOC v. Jerry’s Chevrolet, Inc., Case No. 21-cv-02464 (D. Md.).
In the lawsuit, the EEOC alleged that the dealerships discriminated against a female dispatcher by paying her less than a male colleague who held the same job and performed the same work. The lawsuit also alleged that the dealerships retaliated against the dispatcher by terminating her employment a week after she complained to Human Resources about the wage disparity. Although the dealerships claimed that the dispatcher’s termination was because she uttered a profanity during a break, the lawsuit alleged that she was treated differently than male colleagues because the dealerships gave only a written warning to a male employee who had previously engaged in far more offensive conduct.
Pursuant to the settlement, the dealerships will pay the female dispatcher $62,500. In addition to monetary payment, the settlement requires the dealerships to adopt a policy that creates channels for employees to report unequal pay and procedures for investigating and responding to such complaints. Among other things, the policy must explicitly notify employees that they are not prohibited from discussing their salaries, pay, and compensation with others, and must provide for payment of backpay to any employee who is found to have received unequal pay. In addition, the dealerships will report to the EEOC how they handle complaints of pay discrimination, and the dealerships will provide training to supervisory employees and managers on preventing wage-based discrimination and the legal prohibitions on retaliation, particularly with respect to employees who request equal pay.
The law requires that men and women be provided equal pay for equal work. If you believe that you have suffered from wage discrimination or have otherwise not been compensated in accordance with the federal or state law, please contact MSE through our website or by email at info@mselaborlaw.com to learn more about your rights.
