{"id":2050,"date":"2025-02-25T11:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T15:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/?p=2050"},"modified":"2025-02-25T11:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T15:05:14","slug":"eeocs-first-publicized-settlement-during-the-trump-administration-puts-employers-on-notice-of-anti-american-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/2025\/02\/25\/eeocs-first-publicized-settlement-during-the-trump-administration-puts-employers-on-notice-of-anti-american-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"EEOC\u2019s First Publicized Settlement During The Trump Administration Puts Employers On Notice Of \u201cAnti-American Bias\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., and Christian J. Palacios<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duane Morris Takeaways:  <\/em><\/strong>On February 18, 2025, in EEOC v. LeoPalace, Case No.: 1:25-CV-00004 (D. Guam), the EEOC settled <\/a>a lawsuit and entered into a three-year consent decree with LeoPalace Resort, a large hotel in Guam. Under the terms of the agreement, LeoPalace agreed to pay over $1.4 million and hire an external equal employment monitor to settle allegations that it provided employees of non-Japanese national origin with less favorable wages, benefits, and other terms of employment than their Japanese counterparts. This lawsuit is significant because it is the first seven figure settlement that the Commission has procured since President Trump took office in January 2025 and it is accompanied by a statement from the new Acting Chair Andrea Lucas announcing the Commission\u2019s new enforcement agenda and its intent to protect all workers from national origin discrimination and \u201cAnti-American\u201d bias.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LeoPalace Settlement <\/strong>A<\/strong>nd Anti-American Bias Enforcement <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 14, 2025 the EEOC filed suit against LeoPalace in the U.S. District Court for the District of Guam, on behalf of non-Japanese employees Christopher Adams, Thomas Lee and Donald Gueniot Jr., alleging that the hotel subjected these workers to less favorable wages and benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment compared to equivalent or subordinate Japanese employees on the basis of their national origin (non-Japanese), in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.  Id<\/em>. at 1.  The Commission settled with LeoPlace shortly thereafter, resulting in the hotel chain agreeing to pay $1,412,500.00 and further agreeing to a three-year external equal opportunity monitor to oversee compliance and training, as well as reinstate former employees interested in going back to work for LeoPalace. Id<\/em>. at 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the accompanying press release, Acting Chair Andrea Lucas announced, \u201c\u201cFederal anti-discrimination laws ensure equal employment opportunity for jobs performed by all workers regardless of national origin. The President\u2019s Executive Order on Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity recognizes that the longstanding federal civil rights laws serve as a bedrock to support equality of opportunity for all Americans. This case is an important reminder that unlawful national origin discrimination includes discrimination against American workers in favor of foreign workers.\u201d See<\/em> EEOC Newsroom, LeoPalace Resort to Pay Over $1.4 Million in EEOC National Origin Discrimination Lawsuit<\/a> (Feb. 18, 2025). This is the Commission\u2019s first publicized settlement since Lucas was appointed Acting Chair of the EEOC on January 21, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day after the settlement was announced, the EEOC published a second press release on its Newsroom \u201cputting employers and other covered entities on notice\u201d that the Commission was committed to protecting all workers from unlawful national origin discrimination, including American workers.\u00a0 See<\/em> EEOC Newsroom,\u00a0 EEOC Acting Chair Vows to Protect American Workers from Anti-American Bias<\/a> (Feb. 19, 2025). The Commission further explained that, although Title VII\u2019s national origin nondiscrimination requirement generally meant that employers could not prefer American workers, it also meant that employers could not prefer non-American <\/em>workers, or otherwise disfavor Americans. Id<\/em>.\u00a0 It concluded its press release by stating that while employers may have \u201cmany excuses\u201d for preferring non-American workers (including lower labor cost, client preference, or a biased perception that foreign workers have a better work ethic than Americans), none of these were legally permissible reasons to violate Title VII. Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway for Employers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every new presidential administration brings with it an array of objectives focused on different policy priorities. Since President Trump took office, he has taken unique steps to reshape the Commission by firing its Chair, two Commissioners, and its general counsel, all within the course of a few weeks.\u00a0 The Commission has already indicated it is committed to carrying out President Trump\u2019s policy agenda, consistent with his executive orders related to \u201cunlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination,\u201d \u201cdefending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights,\u201d \u201cprotecting workers from religious bias and harassment, including antisemitism\u201d and, as the above settlement illustrates, \u201canti-American national origin discrimination.\u201d See<\/em> EEOC Newsroom, President Appoints Andrea R. Lucas EEOC Acting Chair<\/a> (Jan. 21, 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employers should take note of the EEOC\u2019s new policy priorities and can likely expect increased enforcement activity in each of these areas for the next four years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., and Christian J. Palacios Duane Morris Takeaways:  On February 18, 2025, in EEOC v. LeoPalace, Case No.: 1:25-CV-00004 (D. Guam), the EEOC settled a lawsuit and entered into a three-year consent decree with LeoPalace Resort, a large hotel in Guam. Under the terms of the agreement, LeoPalace agreed to pay … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “EEOC\u2019s First Publicized Settlement During The Trump Administration Puts Employers On Notice Of \u201cAnti-American Bias\u201d”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":575,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[7,105],"class_list":["post-2050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eeoc-litigation"],"authors":[{"term_id":7,"user_id":575,"is_guest":0,"slug":"gmaatman","display_name":"Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.","avatar_url":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/maatmangerald-100x100.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""},{"term_id":105,"user_id":677,"is_guest":0,"slug":"cpalacios","display_name":"Christian Palacios","avatar_url":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/PalaciosChristian-100x100.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/575"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2050"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/classactiondefense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}