The EEOC has sued a Vermilion Parish company, alleging they discriminated against people who are Black, female or over 40 years of age – and fired a Human Resources employee who objected to that discrimination.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit in federal court last week, accusing Ecoserve LLC, an industrial cleaning company in Abbeville, of a “pattern or practice” of the discrimination.

We’ve reached out to the company for comment. If you want to read the lawsuit for yourself, scroll down.

The lawsuit alleged that the company told the former HR employee to limit the number of Black workers she hired, and then she “became aware of other discriminatory practices of not hiring women or older workers for non-office positions.”

She objected by refusing to discriminate against people, and informing a manager she believed these practices were against the law, and shortly afterward she was fired, the suit alleges.

EEOC claims that evidence has confirmed that “Ecoserv routinely engaged in discrimination by denying employment to Black, female and older applicants for non-salaried, non-office positions.”

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in hiring on the basis of race and sex. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits discriminating against applicants aged 40 or over, according to the EEOC.

The EEOC offers more information on race and color discrimination here: https://www.eeoc.gov/racecolor-discrimination
And more information on sex-based discrimination here: https://www.eeoc.gov/sex-based-discrimination

And more information on age discrimination here: https://www.eeoc.gov/age-discrimination

And information on retaliation here: https://www.eeoc.gov/retaliation.

Here’s the lawsuit: