Bakery settles hiring-bias suit for $1M

Dessert company denies allegations it favored Hispanics over other races

A local commercial bakery has agreed to pay $1 million to compensate hundreds of unsuccessful job seekers after federal officials accused the company of telling black, white and other applicants that it would not hire them in favor of Hispanics.

Lawler Foods, an Humble firm celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, reached a settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission earlier this month. The agency sued the company in 2014 for race and national-origin discrimination.

The agency contended that the company, which specializes in desserts and is perhaps best known for its cheesecake, was able to create a Hispanic-dominated workforce for its production line by relying on Hispanic employees to recruit friends and family, and advertising for Spanish speakers when the company had openings, according to the lawsuit.

In some cases, the lawsuit said, company officials told African-American applicants that the company was not interested in hiring blacks or “people like them”; in another, they told a white candidate he would not be hired because he was not Hispanic.

The case provides a rare glimpse into how hiring discrimination occurs and how pervasive it can be, officials at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.

Employment discrimination is often hidden, because most applicants never know why they didn’t get a job. In this case, however, one hiring manager told EEOC investigators that he “subconsciously rejected” black applicants, preferring Spanishspeaking candidates, according to the lawsuit.

“We thought that was an admission,” said Rudy Sustaita, a senior trial attorney at the agency.

Lawler Foods said in its settlement agreement that it believes it did nothing wrong and that it “fully supports equal opportunities for all employees.” The company referred requests for comment to its lawyer, who did not return phone calls.

The federal agency launched its investigation after three African-Americans who applied in person for openings at the bakery filed discrimination complaints when they didn’t get jobs in 2009. After investigating the claims, the agency expanded its inquiry to include a wider group of applicants. Spanish speakers favored

The agency found a workforce dominated by Hispanics. A survey of job seekers revealed that non-Hispanic applicants were told there were no openings, yet they saw Spanishspeaking candidates taken to interview rooms, federal officials said.

The baker, whose desserts are sold in restaurants and hotels and through mail order, also went out of its way to make the jobs sound onerous to discourage black and white candidates from applying, according to agency officials. The jobs paid about $20,000 a year.

“They told them they’d had to work 14 hours a day in temperatures of minus 10 degrees to over 110 degrees and pushing sacks up to 110 pounds,” said Jim Sacher, regional attorney for the EEOC.

Based on Lawler Foods’ location in an area with a large African-American population, about 30 percent of the bakery’s workforce should be black, Sacher said, but less than 1 percent of the 500 employees are .

David Lopez, general counsel at the EEOC, said discrimination during the hiring process is one of the agency’s most important priorities, yet one of the most difficult areas to investigate.

To start, the agency doesn’t get a lot of complaints, because people are often unaware of the discrimination. In some cases, hiring practices don’t appear discriminatory on their face, but their effect is.

For example, it may not appear discriminatory to exclude applicants with criminal backgrounds, said Lopez. But blacks and Hispanics have disproportionately higher arrest and conviction rates than whites, so a blanket exclusion of candidates with criminal records ends up discriminating against minority groups.

“The EEOC has the unique ability to look under the hood and access broad trends,” said Lopez. Lesson for employers

Stephen Roppolo, a Houston employment lawyer who represents management clients, said employers need to think beyond having such blanket rules. They must consider what skills, education or experience each job requires.

For example, he said, if customers speak Spanish, it makes sense for a business to require the sales staff to speak Spanish. But there is no business necessity for employees who stock merchandise in a warehouse to speak the language.

Lawler Foods will pay just over $1 million into a settlement fund to compensate job applicants who filed complaints. The three people who brought the original complaints to the EEOC will receive between $10,000 and $30,000 each.

The rest will be divided among the job seekers who unsuccessfully applied between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2015.

So far, the agency has identified about 200 people who unsuccessfully sought jobs at Lawler Foods in 2009 and 2010. The EEOC has not yet sifted through the applications that were submitted from 2011 to 2015.

A third-party administrator will handle the claims process.