UPSTATE NIAGARA COOPERATIVE, INC. TO PAY $1.35 MILLION TO SETTLE SEX DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT
UPSTATE NIAGARA COOPERATIVE, INC. TO PAY $1.35 MILLION TO SETTLE SEX DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2020
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc., a Buffalo dairy cooperative that produces a variety of dairy products, will pay $1,350,000 to female applicants and will provide other relief to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.
According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Upstate Niagara discriminated against female job applicants for production-related positions at three facilities in Buffalo and Rochester, from at least 2009 to the present. During that time, it refused to hire many qualified women, and in most instances, qualified women were not even interviewed. Additionally, the company failed to retain applications and other hiring-related documents in violation of the record-keeping requirements of federal law.
This type of alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, national origin, and religion. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York (EEOC v. Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc., Civil Action No.1:16-CV-00842) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.
“When we began our lawsuit, some of Upstate Niagara’s facilities had no women working in production-related jobs,” said Jeffrey Burstein, regional attorney for the EEOC’s New York District Office. “Now, under this consent decree, we expect these jobs will be available to qualified women.”
Under the four-year consent decree resolving the case, Upstate Niagara will pay $1,350,000 in back pay and damages to the female applicants who applied for production-related positions at the three facilities. The company will also adopt a recruitment plan with hiring goals to increase the number of women hired into production-related positions. In addition, Upstate must retain all applications, train all of its employees at the three facilities on their rights and obligations under federal antidiscrimination law, and adopt a new antidiscrimination procedure.
“We are pleased Upstate Niagara is taking steps to ensure they conduct hiring for production positions in a non-discriminatory manner,” said Judy Keenan, acting district director of the EEOC’s New York District Office.
The EEOC’s New York District Office is responsible for processing discrimination charges, administrative enforcement, and conducting agency litigation in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, northern New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.
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Contact:
Sebastian Riccardi - Sebastian.Riccardi@eeoc.gov
(929) 506-5340
Michael Rojas, Outreach & Education Coordinator
michael.rojas@eeoc.gov
(929)506-5331 - (347) 789-2840 (m)
New York District
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