Saturday, July 26, 2003
The agency said both companies refused to resolve the matter out of court.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
SALEM -- A federal agency is suing Quaker Manufacturing Corp. and Betz Job Service, both of Salem, alleging the companies had a business relationship in which they refused to hire women who applied for manufacturing jobs at Quaker.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the sex discrimination suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, on behalf of Marland Billiter, no address given, and other women whom the agency says were deprived of equal opportunity because of their gender.
Attempts to reach Billiter were not successful.
Christopher D. Smith, president of Quaker Manufacturing, did not return a call requesting comment. A man answering the telephone Wednesday at Betz Job Service said the company had no comment.
Quaker, which has also has a plant in Austintown, manufactures tools, dies, fixtures and metal stampings. Betz Job Service is an employment agency.
Michael C. Fetzer, director of the Cleveland District for the EEOC, said litigation is a last resort for the agency, but that Quaker and Betz declined to work with officials to resolve the matter out of court.
Accusations
The EEOC said in a press release that the evidence will show that Betz Job Service, acting on behalf of Quaker, screened women who applied for factory jobs, "believing that women were not suitable for employment in a factory setting."
"There was a belief that the company did not have restroom facilities for women and that women did not want to do heavy lifting," the agency statement continued.
John D. Sargent, a supervisory trial attorney for the agency, said the case demonstrates the EEOC's determination to apply laws against hiring discrimination to employment agencies and unions as well as employers. Employment agencies sometimes serve as gatekeepers to employment, he said.
The lawsuit, which is assigned to U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan, asks that Billiter and others be hired and paid back pay along with compensatory and punitive damages.
The EEOC also seeks a permanent injunction to stop the defendant companies from engaging in any employment practice that discriminates on the basis of sex and to apply any relief necessary to eliminate the effects of the alleged unlawful employment practices.
vinarsky@vindy.com