St. Louis-based bottles and containers producer Pretium Packaging LLC will pay $252,768 to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit related to hiring and promoting machine operators at its Leipsic, Ohio, blow molding plant.
The lawsuit was brought against Pretium by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The federal agency accused Pretium of maintaining a discriminatory practice of not hiring or promoting females to fill machine operator positions.
The EEOC says female employees who expressed interest in the position were told women were not eligible for the position. In another instance, two females employed as packers who applied for a machine operator position weren't even selected for interviews. Instead, male employees and external applicants with inferior qualifications were hired.
Pretium also failed to maintain personnel records in violation of federal law, the EEOC says.
The company's conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on sex.
The EEOC filed suit against Pretium in U.S. District Court in Toledo, Ohio, after an attempt failed to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement.
Now a three-year consent decree resolves the case, requiring Pretium to pay more than $125,000 to the two female machine operator applicants not selected for interviews as well as $2,500 each to an additional group of former female employees who may have been interested in the position.
The company also will establish a $75,000 scholarship with the Ohio Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and interview graduates from the program who apply for openings as machine operator, supervisor or manager.
In addition, Pretium must provide annual training on sex discrimination to all employees at the Leipsic facility and submit annual reports regarding its hiring practices.
"Denying women the same opportunities as men to operate machines because the work is wrongly viewed as a 'man's job' is an unacceptable and unlawful practice," Miles Uhlar, trial attorney for the EEOC's Detroit Field Office, said. "The commission is appreciative of Pretium's cooperation in bringing this lawsuit to an early resolution."
The Leipsic facility hasn't hired women for operator positions for more than 20 years, according to the EEOC. The agency says the discrimination started before Pretium acquired the plant from Patrick Products Inc. in 2017 but continued for at least three years after.
The EEOC's Indianapolis District Office oversees Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and parts of Ohio.
With $810 million in estimated sales, Pretium ranks No. 7 among North American blow molders.