Gibsonia, Pennsylvannia -based truck carrier PJAX Inc. will pay more than $500,000 to settle a federal employment discrimination lawsuit that alleged workers directed vulgarities and derogatory names at female employees.
The company agreed to a consent decree with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission without admitting any wrongdoing, EEOC officials said Monday. A company official said the firm did nothing wrong, and settled to avoid the expense and distraction of a court case. The money will be shared by the five women employees whose complaints led to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed in May in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh accused PJAX, which employs about 1,500 people, of subjecting several female employees to sexual harassment since at least May 1999. PJAX's owners and other managers screamed vulgarities at female employees, called them sexually derogatory names and made them perform chores, including picking up owners' laundry and cleaning their cars, the EEOC said.
Besides the $500,000 payment to the women, the company must adopt a revised anti-discrimination policy, install training that educates employees of anti-discrimination laws and hire a human resources specialist who will investigate discrimination complaints, according to a statement released by the EEOC's Philadelphia District Office.
The EEOC also filed suit in Baltimore claiming 200 female PJAX employees were routinely denied trucker and dockworker jobs because of their gender. EEOC officials said they were close to resolving that case.
