Automation Personnel Services Inc., a Pelham, Ala.-based staffing agency, violated federal law by failing to consider or hire a qualified woman for placement with a fiberglass grating product manufacturer because of her gender, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged in a lawsuit filed Friday.

The lawsuit seeks back pay, compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Automation Personnel Services refused to hire Andrea Williams when she attempted to apply for the shipping/receiving position at a job fair in Lafayette, La. The EEOC alleges Automation’s onsite representative told her that “this is a man’s job” and it is “not suitable for women.” Williams was not allowed by the representative to apply for the position. EEOC also claims Automation hired 55 people for placement with the fiberglass company in late 2012, and only one was female.

“Employers, including staffing agencies, cannot refuse to hire women based on outdated presumptions that women are not capable of performing certain types of jobs,” said C. Emanuel Smith, regional attorney for EEOC’s Birmingham District office. “EEOC will defend the right of women to seek employment regardless of the job category.”

The EEOC filed the lawsuit in US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division, after an investigation was completed by EEOC’s Birmingham District Office and after the agency first attempted to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process. (EEOC v. Automation Personnel Services, Inc., Case No. 2:16-CV-00996).