Washington — A trucking business operated by the billionaire owners of the Ambassador Bridge will pay $5.5 million to settle a lawsuit with the federal government over an alleged refusal to hire qualified female truck drivers throughout the country.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought the lawsuit against the Moroun family’s Warren-based Central Transport, LLC in March and reached a settlement agreement with the company on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, sex discrimination in hiring continues to be a problem in some industries,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office, in a statement.
She continued: “It is illegal for employers to refuse to hire women because of their sex. We appreciate Central Transport’s willingness to resolve this case with an early settlement. We hope that through this consent decree, Central Transport’s efforts will result in a hiring process free from sex discrimination.”
Central Transport is part of the sprawling Moroun family logistics empire, which also privately owns the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario.
The EEOC settlement is the Morouns’ second recent entanglement with the federal government.
The family business, led by Matthew Moroun, has stepped up lobbying efforts to stop or delay the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a public project it has long opposed, which would end an effective monopoly on truck traffic through North America’s busiest international commercial land crossing.
Central Transport said Friday that it was “pleased” to announce the resolution of the employment discrimination matter, which dates back to 2016, and denied any wrongdoing.
“Central has never discriminated against qualified women driver candidates,” the company said in a statement. “Like all carriers, we face ongoing challenges in recruiting qualified drivers, regardless of gender. We chose to resolve this matter solely to move forward and focus on serving our customers and supporting our workforce.”
A press release from the company added: “Throughout the investigation, Central provided the EEOC with detailed information demonstrating that the company’s proportion of female drivers closely mirrored the trucking industry as a whole.
“The industry has long faced challenges attracting women to truck driving roles, a trend influenced by several factors, including vehicle specifications. Industry data show that women are more likely to pursue truck-driving positions when automatic transmissions are available.
“In 2021, Central began transitioning its fleet from manual to automatic transmissions. Following this change, the percentage of female drivers at Central increased significantly. Since then, the proportion of newly hired female drivers has consistently met or exceeded the EEOC’s expectations.”
The lawsuit, however, claimed that female job applicants observed a male Central Transport manager on at least two occasions throwing their job applications in the trash at local truck terminals.
The complaint mentioned one job seeker in Detroit — a woman named Marona Biddles — who said that she and a male cousin simultaneously submitted applications to work for Central Transport in 2016, but only her application was put in the garbage.
Biddles said that she and her cousin, upon realizing that they’d both forgotten to include information on their applications, went back minutes later to provide additional details. The lawsuit alleged that a male employee of Central Transport easily retrieved the male cousin’s application but had trouble finding hers, eventually retrieving it from a trash can.
Central Transport, according to the lawsuit, later hired Biddles’ cousin as a truck driver but never offered to interview despite meeting job qualifications.
The EEOC said it received reports of sex-based discrimination at the following locations during its investigation: Atlanta, Georgia; Bartlett, Tennessee; Blue Springs, Missouri; Cheboygan, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Dunbar, West Virginia; Horn Lake, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; North Jackson, Ohio; Phoenix, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; and Springfield, Illinois.
The EEOC said a consent decree signed by Central Transport, the agency, and Arizona U.S. District Court Judge John J. Tuchi requires the Moroun company to pay $5.5 million to four original complainants and a class of other qualified female truck drivers who applied but were not hired.
The settlement also requires Central Transport to allow affected applicants “to apply for positions and participate in the company’s recruitment and hiring processes free from sex-based discrimination and retaliation for participating in the lawsuit.”
Additionally, Central Transport has agreed to hire an outside consultant to ensure compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which prohibits sex discrimination in hiring) and to appoint a monitor who will broadly oversee compliance with the settlement.
“Female workers who are qualified for a job should be given an equal chance to compete for the position with men,” EEOC Phoenix District Director Melinda Caraballo said. “We also remind employers that they need to retainjob applications and hiring records, particularly when they have received charges of discrimination.
“The EEOC is committed to fighting for the rights of all qualified workers, including women.”
gschwab@detroitnews.com
@GrantSchwab
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Moroun firm pays $5.5M to settle claim it wouldn’t hire female drivers
Reporting by Grant Schwab, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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