Women To Receive Damages In Minnesota Sex Discrimination Case

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Minneapolis (KROC AM News)  -  A Minnesota-based trucking company has settled a sex discrimination lawsuit involving female drivers.

Under the settlement, Stan Koch and Sons Trucking will pay several hundred thousand dollars to women who were part of the legal action.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the company over its use of the CRT Test, an isokinetic strength test developed by an Iowa company. It contended the test disproportionately screened out women who are qualified for truck driver positions at Koch.

A federal judge earlier ruled in favor of the EEOC, finding the test disproportionately screened out women who had been given conditional offers of hire by Koch to work as truck drivers or who were already employed by the company and were required to take the test to return to work following an injury.

The agreement requires Koch to pay $500,000 in monetary damages and make job offers to a class of women whose job offers were revoked by Koch after they failed the CRT test.
Gregory Gochanour, the EEOC’s regional attorney in Chicago issued this statement about the case:

“This case should serve as a reminder to employers that when they use a hiring screen they cannot rely on justifications like ‘It seemed like common sense’ or ‘Of course it’s better to have stronger employees if the job has some physical tasks.’ Employers have to demonstrate with valid evidence that the tests they use can actually predict the outcomes they are looking for.”

Koch, headquartered in Minneapolis, is a family-owned trucking company with over 1,000 trucks that operates nationally and on regional and local routes.