Court Denies Meatpacker’s Bid to Dismiss EEOC Bias Suit for Somali Muslim Workers

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may proceed with a broad discrimination suit against the meatpacking firm JBS Swift & Co. on behalf of black Somali Muslim workers even though the relevant union local is not a party to the suit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado ruled June 9 (EEOC v. JBS USA LLC d/b/a JBS Swift & Co.).

In August 2010, EEOC filed two lawsuits against JBS Swift, claiming the company violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Somali Muslim workers at its meatpacking plants in Greeley, Colo., and ...