Machining company accused by EEOC of refusing to hire women settles for $2 million

By Daniel Wiessner

Nov 21 (Reuters) - An Ohio machining company will pay $2 million to settle claims that it routinely passed over women for production jobs and refused to install women's bathrooms at its four plants, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced on Friday.

The settlement, which was approved on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko in Cleveland, also requires Glunt Industries to consider hiring women who had previously been turned down for jobs. Glunt denied wrongdoing.

EEOC cases routinely settle, but seven-figure deals are uncommon. The only larger ones for the agency this year were its $21 million deal with Columbia University, part of a larger settlement with the Trump administration of claims that the school fostered antisemitism, and a $2.8 million settlement with a laboratory accused of denying religious exemptions to vaccine requirements.

Glunt, which is owned by private equity firm Merit Capital Partners, refurbishes and upgrades steel and aluminum machine parts, according to its website. The commission in a 2024 lawsuit claimed the company had a policy of not hiring women for jobs on its production floor.

And while passing over female applicants, Glunt hired men who lacked the required experience, education and skill for the job, the commission said.

Glunt also demoted a female human resources director for her part in hiring two women as project managers, who were terminated and replaced by men, prompting her to quit, the EEOC alleged. The $2 million payout will be shared by the three women and an unspecified number of female job applicants.

The settlement bars Glunt from engaging in sex discrimination and requires the company to revise its anti-discrimination policies and "provide equal employment opportunities" for women who have applied for jobs since 2019.

Lawyers for Glunt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Debra Lawrence, the regional attorney for the EEOC's Philadelphia office, said the settlement was significant not only for the affected women but also for the public.

"The EEOC remains firmly committed to eliminating and remedying unlawful hiring practices that deny women employment because of sex, including in the manufacturing industry,” Lawrence said in a statement.

The case EEOC v. Glunt Industries Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, No. 1:24-cv-01687.

For the EEOC: Debra Lawrence

For Glunt: Robert Driscoll of Reinhart Boerbner Van Deuren; Brian Kelly of Frantz Ward