SmartTalent LLC, a Kirkland, Washington-based staffing provider, will pay $875,000 to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

According to the EEOC, an investigation found that SmartTalent complied with clients’ requests for male workers, denying female workers job placement opportunities and dissuading some of its own recruiters who voiced concerns. The conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964, which prohibits an employment agency from fulfilling discriminatory employer preferences or making referrals based on sex. 

Under a three-year consent decree, SmartTalent will pay $875,000 to eligible claimants and retain an independent consultant to draft and implement anti-discrimination policies and procedures against female workers and investigate all complaints. The company will also retain a third party to train its managers and recruiters on Title VII and the company’s new anti-discrimination policies. The management and recruiters will be held accountable through written evaluations and active monitoring.

SmartTalent denies that it ever discriminated on the basis of sex and is confident that its actions would have been vindicated if taken to trial, SmartTalent President Stephanie Ticknor wrote in an email to SIA.

“SmartTalent’s decision to settle the EEOC’s lawsuit was made to fully and finally resolve the EEOC’s nine-year investigation and allow SmartTalent to focus on its business,” Ticknor stated, adding that SmartTalent is a local, women-owned small business with a female president.

“SmartTalent was proactive before and during the EEOC’s investigation by implementing concrete steps to prevent discrimination,” Ticknor wrote. “Further, SmartTalent looks forward to cooperating with the EEOC to further the goal of non-discriminatory hiring and placement.”