TEXAS BRANCH OF NATIONAL SECURITY COMPANY SUED BY EEOC FOR SEX DISCRIMINATION

Federal Agency Charges Guardsmark With Denying Female Security Guards Certain Job Assignments

HOUSTON  – A Houston branch of Guardsmark, LLC, a  Delaware Corporation doing business in Texas,  violated federal law by reassigning a class of female security guards based on  customer preference for male guards, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity  Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

The EEOC’s lawsuit (Civil Action  No. 4:09-cv-03062, filed in U.S.  District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division) charges  Guardsmark, LLC with subjecting Aneda T. Birkner, Danielle R. Jones and other  female employees to unequal terms and conditions of employment by assigning or  reassigning them as security guards based on customer preference for male  security guards in  violation Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964.

After reportedly learning that  certain clients did not want any female security guards assigned to their  premises, Guardsmark reassigned Birkner, Jones and several other female guards  to other assignments. These new  assignments often paid less and were located further away, thereby causing  inconvenience for them.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act  of 1964, section 703(e), allows overt sex-based employment decisions only where  sex is a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) for the job in  question. Here, this defense does not  apply, as Guardsmark had no valid reason to reassign the female security  guards, the EEOC said.

The EEOC seeks an injunction, back  pay with pre-judgment interest, reinstatement or front pay, compensatory  damages and punitive damages, in amounts to be determined at trial.

“This action sends the message that  our agency will continue to prosecute employers who subject their female  employees to sex discrimination,” said R.J. Ruff, district director of the  EEOC’s Houston District Office.

“It is disappointing when able workers are  denied work because of their gender,” said EEOC regional attorney Jim  Sacher. “The EEOC will aggressively seek  redress for the injuries suffered by these women.”

According to company information,  Guardsmark, LLC, is incorporated in Delaware,  headquartered in New York City, and its main  administrative service center is in Memphis,  Tennessee. It is “engaged in the business of providing  uniformed security personnel to businesses and other organizations throughout  the United States.” Guardsmark employs approximately 19,000  people in 155 branch offices. The class  of women affected in this suit was employed in “Greater Houston Branch 13.”

The  EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is  available on the agency’s web site at www.eeoc.gov.