Two affiliates of Select Staffing will pay $580,000 to settle a race and national origin discrimination lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in federal court in Tennessee, the agency announced.

The EEOC alleged New Koosharem and Real Time Staffing, affiliates of Select, discriminated against four applicants and a class of African American and non-Hispanic applicants by not placing those applicants at a Memphis facility.

“We are pleased that New Koosharem and Real Time Staffing chose not to engage in protracted litigation,” said Faye Williams, regional attorney of the EEOC’s Memphis district office. “Instead they focused on making significant changes in the workplace for walk-in applicants and agreed to specific measures such as training, reporting and monitoring to ensure that all applicants, irrespective of race and national origin, will be treated equally during the hiring process.”

The complaint in the lawsuit alleged the staffing firms gave preference to Hispanic workers. In one instance, African American and other candidates appearing at the firm to apply for jobs were told the agency was not accepting applications and asked to leave while Hispanic applicants were taken to another room and none left the building, according to the complaint.

In addition to paying $580,000, New Koosharem and Real Time are:

• Enjoined from discriminating against applicants and temporary workers because of race and national origin in the future.
• Required to provide four hours of training annually on race, retaliation and national origin discrimination to all managerial employees in its six facilities in Tennessee and the Northern District of Mississippi.
• Requires the staffing firms’ regional VP or an officer to appear prior to the training in person or via video to announce the nondiscrimination policy and the consequences for violating the policy.
• Revise the application process for walk-in applicants.
• Requires an internal audit every six months to determine whether the defendants refer or place applicants in the order the applicants sign the log sheets.
• Allows the EEOC to monitor and review compliance.
• Requires the staffing firms to post notice of this resolution.