EEOC Sues USF Holland for Sex Discrimination

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – USF Holland, LLC, a trucking company providing transportation and delivery services to customers throughout North America, violated federal law when it refused for decades to hire qualified females for truck driving positions because of their sex, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

USF Holland operates over 50 terminals in the United States. The EEOC alleges the discrim­ination occurred at Holland’s Olive Branch, Miss., terminal.           

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, USF Holland has employed virtually no females as truck drivers at its Olive Branch location since that terminal opened in 1986. As of May 2016, USF Holland employed over 100 truck drivers in Olive Branch, but none were women. The EEOC contends that qualified women with extensive truck driving experience have applied over the years, but even when the women’s qual­ifications were equal or superior to those of male applicants, Holland hired men instead of women.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits

discrimination on the basis of sex. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. USF Holland, LLC, Civil Action No. 3:20-cv-00270) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The suit seeks monetary relief in the form of back pay and compensatory damages, as well as an injunction against future discrimination.

“It is important for employers to understand that assumptions about gender roles have no place in employment decisions,” said Delner Franklin-Thomas, district director of the EEOC’s Memphis District Office, which has jurisdiction over Arkansas, Tennessee and portions of Mississippi. “Denying women equal employment opportunities in the workplace because of gender is illegal.”

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.