Convenience store chain Circle K will shell out $8 million dollars to settle Equal Employment Opportunity Commission pregnancy-discrimination and disability-discrimination charges—a rare multimillion-dollar settlement for an agency that typically sues over narrow cases of alleged discrimination involving a specific employee and often settles for thousands of dollars.
In contrast, the EEOC alleged a pattern of misconduct at Circle K dating back to 2009 involving an unspecified number of workers. The settlement also sent a resounding signal that the agency is making pregnancy discrimination a top enforcement priority. In recent months, it has announced pregnancy-discrimination settlements or lawsuits involving a string of prominent companies, including Ford, Tyson and Walgreens.
