Illegal activities of Southern Bosses during the weeks between Friday, January 2, and Friday, January 9
Quick Stories
- The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Fort Worth-based trucking company Balkan Express LLC to reinstate and compensate a worker who was terminated after reporting safety concerns, in violation of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, which protects commercial motor vehicle safety complaints. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered Balkan Express to reinstate the employee and pay back wages, interest, compensatory, and punitive damages totaling more than $100,000.
- OSHA closed their investigation into the death of a CEO on the HL-GA Battery Company construction site on March 21. HL-GA Battery Company is a joint venture between Hyundai and LG, and they’re building a massive battery manufacturing facility in Georgia. The CEO, Sunbook You, was killed when he was struck by a forklift. The agency fined Iron Construction – the subcontractor that the forklift driver worked for – $16,550 for exposing workers to struck-by and crushing hazards and not ensuring drivers follow regulations. SBY America – the subcontractor the CEO worked for – was fined $9,268 for exposing employees to struck-by hazards. HL-GA Battery was fined $1,800 for failing to submit required work related injury and illness forms to OSHA. HL-GA has seen a pattern of safety violations: WTOC reports that the county’s EMS records show a 16 month period with 53 calls for service at the site, including over a dozen traumatic injuries. Another worker on the site died after having a metal frame fall on him only a couple months after the CEO’s death.
Texas Discriminators
Peak Performers, incorporated as St. Vincent de Paul Rehabilitation Services of Texas, Inc., an Austin-based staffing agency providing staffing and recruitment services for workers with disabilities, agreed to pay $160,000 to a disabled former employee and institute significant reforms to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, following a suicide attempt resulting from mental health conditions, an executive assistant with a disability requested approximately four to six weeks of unpaid leave to receive outpatient medical treatment. The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that even though executives at Peak Performers knew the executive assistant asked for time off to seek treatment for mental health-related disabilities, the company denied her brief, unpaid leave request and instead fired her in April 2024. Ultimately, the executive assistant completed her treatment and would have been able to return to her job within three weeks, according to the EEOC’s suit.
The type of conduct alleged in the complaint violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for the known disabilities of employees absent an undue hardship, and prohibits employers from terminating employees on the basis of their disabilities, including when their terminations are caused by the employers’ failure to provide a reasonable accommodation. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. The EEOC and Peak Performers subsequently agreed to settle the case before trial or any findings concerning EEOC’s claims, and on Jan. 6, the federal court approved the agreed two-year consent decree resolving the litigation.
In addition to paying $160,000 to the former executive assistant, the consent decree prohibits Peak Performers from engaging in disability discrimination, requires the organization to adopt and implement an ADA compliance policy with extensive procedures designed to protect rights of disabled workers, and mandates detailed ADA compliance training to human resources personnel and various decision-making officials. The consent decree also requires reporting to the EEOC of any future disability discrimination complaints by employees or job applicants, as well as information concerning certain decisions to deny medical leave requested by employees.
Florida Discriminators
Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation (KFC) agreed to conciliate a sexual hostile work environment and retaliation charge involving two employees at an Orlando KFC location with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
During the EEOC’s charge investigation, the agency found reasonable cause to believe KFC violated federal law by subjecting an employee to a sexually hostile work environment and then firing her in January 2022 in retaliation for objecting to the sexual harassment. The investigation also identified a second affected employee.
This kind of alleged conduct by an employer violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment, and retaliation.
Following the EEOC’s cause determination, the parties successfully engaged in the EEOC’s pre-litigation conciliation process. As part of the resolution, KFC agreed to pay $100,000 to each employee, representing compensatory and punitive damages. In addition, KFC will implement annual training on sex discrimination for employees, human resources and management staff. In addition, KFC will revise its employment policies to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and report on any future complaints of sex discrimination for a period of three years.
More Florida Discriminators
The Miami District of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) successfully conciliated two discrimination charges on behalf of pregnant women, the federal agency announced today.
The first charge, against Brandt Information Services, Inc., a technology solutions company based in Tallahassee, Florida, claimed the company terminated a pregnant employee in November 2023 after she requested two and a half months of unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). Under the terms of the conciliation agreement, Brandt will pay the former employee $100,000 and provide robust injunctive relief, including implementation of a new policy allowing employees to request leave as a reasonable accommodation under the PWFA, even if they do not qualify for leave under the Family Medical Leave Act.
The second charge, against Health and Behavior Dimensions, Inc. (HBD), a behavioral health provider based in Hallandale Beach, Florida, claimed the non-profit organization denied a pregnant employee an accommodation under the PWFA in March 2024. According to the employee, HBD refused to engage in the required interactive process and instead fired her on the same day she requested an accommodation. Under the terms of the conciliation agreement, HBD will pay the former employee $35,000, provide equal employment opportunity training to all employees, and report annually on discrimination complaints received by the organization.
Georgia Discriminators
1st Franklin Financial Corporation, a consumer lender with more than 370 branches throughout the Southeastern United States, will pay $750,000 to a class of former employees and provide other relief to settle a disability discrimination suit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
According to the suit, since 2022, 1st Franklin denied reasonable accommodations to its employees with disabilities and offered no alternative accommodations, including when its employees requested leave as an accommodation. One former customer service representative had multiple medical conditions contributing to heart attacks, requiring hospitalization. He requested a short leave of absence until he expected to be released from the hospital, but the company denied the request and terminated him, according to the suit.
Such conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires the accommodation of disabilities absent undue hardship, and prohibits employers from discharging an employee because of their disability or because they engaged in protected activity. The EEOC filed suit (Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-03632-TWT-CCB) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement via its conciliation process.
The three-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit requires 1st Franklin to provide $250,000 to the former customer service representative and to establish a class fund of $500,000 to pay other harmed claimants. In addition to the monetary relief, 1st Franklin will update its employment policies, provide specialized training to managers, supervisors, and human resources personnel who receive and handle disability accommodation requests, 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 disability accommodations and how those requests were handled.