Home Depot doesn’t sell clothes, but they have plenty of lawsuits available. In 1997, the federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) filed the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in its history against Home Depot, involving 217,000 Home Depot current and former employees. One report indicated that 70% of Home Depot’s “back office” and cashier positions were filled by women, while men filled 70% of the merchandising positions. In September of 1997, Home Depot settled the lawsuit in a federal district Court in New Orleans, agreeing to pay $65 million to the women plaintiffs in the case, $17 milion to improve the company’s human resource programs, and $17 million in legal fees. The company coughed up $104 million to end the case. But according to the September 16th National Home Channel News, the EEOC has now filed another sex discrimination case against Home Depot, this time in response to claims of a California woman who says the company repeatedly refused to hire her for several jobs that were filled instead by less qualified men at their store in Rialto, outside of Los Angeles. The EEOC was quoted as saying “discrimination on the basis of sex is intolerable,” and Home Depot replied that it would “vigorously” fight the “meritless” suit. This is at least the third time that Home Depot has been nailed by the EEOC. The last tine was in August of 2001, which involved sex discrimination against a Texas woman who said she was denied a promotion despite excellent job performance.
In the 1997 sex discrimination case, Home Depot said: “We are fully confident that the truth will ultimately be realized by all — that there is no better place for women and men to work than The Home Depot.” In January of 2000 and March of 2001, the company was also sued for racial discrimination by its black workers in Michigan. For more info on Home Depot lawsuits from its workers, search this database by “EEOC”.