The Indianapolis Office of the EEOC brought this suit against Eby-Brown Company, LLC in July 2006 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis). The complaint alleged that Eby-Brown violated Title VII by subjecting a black male employee born in the Republic of Guinea to harassment based on his race, color and national origin and retaliating against him by discharging him for his opposition to discriminatory practices and his participation in proceedings under Title VII. The complainant intervened, alleging violations of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. ß 1981, 42 U.S.C. ß 1985, 42 U.S.C. ß 1986, and state causes of action for malicious prosecution, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, vicarious liability under the theory of respondeat superior, and negligent supervision. After several status hearings, settlement negotiations, and discovery motions, the parties reached and signed a settlement agreement in July 2007, but some terms of the agreement were yet to be determined. The intervenor-plaintiff later refused to sign the completed settlement agreement and the District Court Judge granted the defendants' motion to enforce the settlement agreement with plaintiff-intervenor. In December 2007, the court granted the parties' joint motion for entry of consent decree and the case was dismissed with prejudice in January 2008 after the parties failed to file responses to the Court's order to parties to show cause why this case should not be dismissed.

The two-year consent decree included non-discrimination and non-retaliation clauses. It required Eby-Brown to post its non-discrimination policy for the duration of the decree, implement a personnel policy prohibiting race, color, and national origin harassment agreed upon by the parties during settlement negotiations, and submit annual reports to the EEOC of complaints and discipline administered as a result of complaints. The decree allows the EEOC to inspect the premises, interview employees, and examine and copy documents upon reasonable notice to Eby-Brown. If the commission alleges a violation of the decree, it will provide Eby-Brown with notice and a chance to respond to the allegation before the Commission exercises any remedy provided by law. The decree provides for elimination from the intervenor-plaintiff's record of all references to the discrimination charges and requires Eby-Brown to make no mention of the charges if contacted by a potential employer of the intervenor-plaintiff. Eby-Brown agreed to pay $100,000, all of which went to the intervenor-plaintiff. The decree was to last for two years. The docket sheet doesn't show any further enforcement took place; the case was presumably closed in 2009.

Daisy Manning - 05/27/2008
- 06/13/2017


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