The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday that a St. Louis–based packing company will pay $252,768 to settle discrimination charges that it did not place females in machine operator positions.
The agency said in a statement that female employees who expressed interest in the position at Pretium Packaging LLC were told women were not eligible for it.
In one instance, two female employees who worked as packers and submitted applications for the machine operator position were not selected for interviews, and male employees and external applicants with less qualification were hired instead.
The company was charged with violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo, Ohio.
The three-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit requires Pretium to pay more than $125,000 to the two female employees who applied to be machine operators but were not selected for interviews, and an additional $2,500 to former employees who may have been interested in the position.
It also requires Pretium to establish a $75,000 scholarship with the Women in Manufacturing’s Ohio chapter and to interview chapter program graduates who apply to be machine operators, supervisors or managers, among other provisions.
The company’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
