Illegal activities of Southern Bosses during the weeks between Friday, December 5, and Friday, December 12
Florida Discriminators
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation and Marriott Ownership Resorts, Inc., sellers of timeshare programs for hotels and vacation clubs, agreed to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for $175,000 and significant non-monetary relief.
The EEOC’s suit charged that management at Marriott Vacations Worldwide and Marriott Ownership Resorts initially provided a religious accommodation for a Seventh-Day Adventist employee which allowed her to avoid Saturday shifts so she would not have to work on her religion’s Sabbath. After a change in management, the companies revoked her religious accommodation and began scheduling her to work on Saturdays. Although the employee made repeated complaints about losing her religious accommodation, the employer continued to schedule her for Saturdays, negatively impacting her sales and commissions, and forcing her to choose between her work and her faith, leading to her resignation around June 2023, according to the suit.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, which prohibits discrimination because of an individual’s religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs and practices unless doing so would cause an undue hardship. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.
The three-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit requires the defendants to provide $175,000 in monetary relief to the former employee; update certain religious accommodation policies at their Sheraton Vacation Club properties in Florida; provide specialized training to managers, supervisors and human resources personnel who manage and advise sales executives at their Sheraton Vacation Club properties in Florida; and post a notice in the workplace informing employees of the settlement and of their right to be free from workplace discrimination. Furthermore, the company will provide the EEOC with periodic reports regarding requests for religious accommodations at their Sheraton Vacation Club properties in Florida.
D.C. Thieves
The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $596,443 for 31 workers who were denied their full wages and fringe benefits by a Maryland-based subcontractor involved in a kickback scheme during the construction of two affordable housing developments funded by the District of Columbia.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigated J. Solano HVAC LLC – an air conditioning, heating, and ventilation company based in Silver Spring, Maryland – and its owner, Jose Williams Solano, and found they violated the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts while working as a subcontractor on the Carl F. West Estates and Northwest One Phase 2 projects, both located in northwest Washington, D.C.
The department determined J. Solano HVAC and Solano made verbal agreements with sheet metal workers and pipefitter mechanics that they would receive the full prevailing wage rate via check but then required workers to return any wages they received that exceeded $30 per hour. Additionally, the department found the employer wrongly classified some workers as lower-skilled laborers. In doing so, the employer did not pay the proper prevailing wage rates, including the basic hourly rate, holiday pay, and fringe benefits, in violation of the DBRA.
The division debarred J. Solano HVAC LLC and its owner from bidding on federally funded construction projects for a period of three years because of the willful nature of the violations.
More D.C. Thieves
Wrightway Ready-Mix, LLC, and Wright Concrete & Construction, Inc., related concrete-construction companies operating in Delbarton, West Virginia, unlawfully questioned a job applicant about using methadone as part of medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction and then refused to hire him because of his answer, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, when a job applicant went to a Wrightway facility in Delbarton to apply and interview for a laborer position, the hiring manager asked him what medications he was currently taking. The job applicant said he was taking methadone; the hiring manager then told the job applicant that Wrightway would not hire him due to a longstanding company policy prohibiting employment of workers who take methadone.
When the job applicant then spoke with the onsite head of human resources, she affirmed that Wrightway would not hire him because of its policy of refusing to hire workers who take methadone, according to the suit.
Because of these policies and practices, the EEOC’s lawsuit charged that Wrightway has excluded a class of workers from employment in violation of federal law.
Read the EEOC’s Report Here: https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-sues-wrightway-ready-mix-and-wright-concrete-construction-disability-discrimination
Union Busters
Brought to you by LaborLab: The nation’s leading watchdog standing with working families to stop employer coercion and intimidation. Visit www.laborlab.us for more info.
Here are the new filings from this week:
- Neptune Technology Group (AL) hired David Craig & Company for $150/hour
- This is the first union buster known to be hired at Neptune after the beginning of a campaign by community and environmental groups to bring the company to the table to negotiate a community benefits agreement. This guy is interestingly a city councilor in Utah.
- Preble Street Resource Center (ME) hired Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon for $230/hour
- Union election is underway
- This group is a strange one. A lot of their other work seems to be progressive, like partnering with the National Education Association (the country’s largest union!) to fight anti-DEI legislation in New Hampshire
- Rutland Regional Medical Center (VT) hired O’Mara & Associates for $300/hour
- Empire Dairy (CA) hired the Redd Group Enterprises for $350/hour with a $10,000 retainer
As a reminder, due to a lack of enforcement, some labor relations consultants may disregard the law and fail to report their activities to the U.S. Department of Labor. Therefore, it’s crucial for organizers and workers to report suspected “persuader” activity to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS). You can reach them via email at OLMS-Public@dol.gov, by calling (202) 693-0123, or by contacting your nearest OLMS District Office.
For assistance, please contact LaborLab at contact@laborlab.us.