South Carolina Company Refused to Hire a Female Truck Driver Because of Her Sex, Federal Agency Charges

ATLANTA - American Pride Waste Solutions, Inc., a Bluffton, S.C., waste collection company, violated federal law by discriminating against a qualified female job applicant because of her sex, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it recently filed.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, American Pride rejected the woman's truck driver application in favor of less-qualified male applicants.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. American Pride Waste Solutions, Civil Action No. 9:18-cv-912-DCN-JDA) in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The federal agency seeks back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages for the discrimination victim, as well as injunctive relief designed to prevent such discrimination in the future.

"Federal law clearly requires employers to give equal opportunity to all applicants for positions, regardless of the applicant's sex," said Bernice Williams-Kimbrough, director of the EEOC's Atlanta District Office. "That goes for all jobs -- truck drivers, computer programmers, police officers and CEOs. No exceptions."

Antonette Sewell, regional attorney for the Atlanta District Office, added, "Denying people equal employment opportunity because of gender has been against federal law for more than 50 years. It's distressing that some employers still try to get away with such misconduct, but the EEOC will keep combating it."