In September 2001, the New Orleans District Office of the EEOC brought this lawsuit against Sonic Drive Inn and 17 related defendants in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana alleging discrimination on the basis of sex and race in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the defendant subjected the complaining parties, eleven individuals, to either a sexually hostile work environment based upon their gender, female, leading to demotion, constructive, or actual discharge, or failed to employ male complainants based upon their race, black. The charging parties intervened in the lawsuit in January 2002. Following a string of dismissals of individual defendants through various motions, the complainants dismissed their lawsuit in May 2003 and the EEOC settled their lawsuit in August 2003 through a consent decree.

We do not have a copy of the complainants' agreement with the defendants; therefore, the exact remedies they received are unknown. The EEOC created a two-year decree, containing non-discrimination and non-retaliation clauses, required the defendant to: post and distribute notice of employee rights, provide EEO training to all employees, implement a dispute resolution process, report on complaints and compliance with certain terms of the consent decree and maintain all personnel records for one year.

David Friedman - 10/23/2007


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