Worker alleged ‘race-based pay disparities’ in Michigan, then was suspended, feds say

A woman alleged she was passed over on a promotion because of her race, then about three months later she amended her federal charge of discrimination to claim the Michigan company also had “race-based pay disparities,” authorities said.

Soon after updating her discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the worker was suspended from her job for three days, according to a Dec. 21 news release.

Now more than six years after she filed the charge against Proctor Financial, Inc. in June 2016, the Troy-based insurance company has agreed to settle a retaliation lawsuit filed by the EEOC in 2019.

“Prior to filing her charge, she had not been disciplined during her more than eight years with the company,” the EEOC said in a news release, adding “that Proctor unlawfully retaliated against the employee for filing a charge with the agency and complaining about race discrimination.”

McClatchy News reached out to Proctor Financial and the company’s defense attorneys for comment on Dec. 22 and did not immediately hear back.

In the lawsuit, prosecutors said the employee alleged she was being discriminated against because she was Black or African American. During an EEOC investigation into her charge, the worker was written up and suspended, according to court records.

“She was not disciplined until after she complained about race discrimination and filed her EEOC Charge,” prosecutors said.

The EEOC said it filed the complaint in the Eastern District of Michigan after being unable to reach a pre-litigation settlement with Proctor.

Now that Proctor has agreed to a three-year consent decree that settles the lawsuit, the company must pay the employee $67,000, which includes $651 in back pay for her suspension and $66,348 in damages, according to the release.

The insurance company must also give the worker a “neutral job reference,” provide anti-retaliation policies to its employees, post a notice informing workers how to make discrimination complaints and provide training on Title VII’s anti-retaliation provisions.

“Employees should be able to freely report concerns about workplace discrimination without being retaliated against, and the EEOC stands ready to protect that right,” EEOC trial attorney Nedra Campbell said in the release. “Proctor Financial’s decision to train its workforce on anti-retaliation provisions of Title VII should be commended.”

Proctor Financial has offices in Michigan, Florida and Ohio, officials said, and provides insurance products to more than 1,500 financial institutions across the U.S.

This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 12:53 PM.