The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency charged with enforcing anti-discrimination laws in employment, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Houston after failing to reach a voluntary settlement with the company.
The nine-page complaint cited incidents at stores in Indiana, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama but said the hiring discrimination and retaliation permeated multiple stores in various states.
The lawsuit alleges that qualified blacks and Hispanics were routinely denied positions at Bass Pro Shop stores and that managers of stores in Houston, Louisiana and other locations made derogatory racial comments acknowledging the practice.
Larry Whiteley, a spokesman for the Springfield, Mo.-based company, said the company had not reviewed the lawsuit and could not immediately comment.
At one store in the Houston area, the general manager allegedly told the human resources manager that "it was getting a little dark in here, you need to hire some white people," according to the lawsuit. Other managers or supervisors used racial and ethnic epithets to describe blacks and Hispanics, the lawsuit says.
The EEOC also alleged that the company destroyed or did not retain documents related to applications and internal discrimination complaints.
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source: www.indystar.com (9/22)
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