A South Lyon, Michigan, steel tubing company will pay $500,000 and implement injunctive relief to settle a race discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC had charged that Michigan Seamless Tube, after purchasing the assets of its predecessor company, refused to hire African American employees of the predecessor. Read the full story here.
According to the EEOC’s suit, Michigan Seamless began hiring former employees of the predecessor in November 2002. During the company startup, 52 of the former employees were hired — none of them black.
Michigan Seamless continued to hire former employees through 2005, but no African American employees of the previous company were ever hired. Many white employees hired had significantly less experience than the black former employees represented by the EEOC, and in some cases had actually been trained by the same African American employees who were denied hire. The EEOC asserted that Michigan Seamless’s conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race discrimination in employment.
Under the consent decree settling the suit, Michigan Seamless will pay $500,000, to be distributed to the class members based on an individualized determination. Michigan Seamless is also required to recruit black applicants by a variety of methods, and will provide training on anti-discrimination laws to all its employees, managers and executive officers.
