Cardinal Health to Pay $1.45 Million to Resolve Racial Harassment and Retaliation Lawsuit

Cardinal Health and AppleOne Staffing agency fostered a hostile work environment

After first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process, EEOC filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Cardinal Health and Howroyd-Wright Employment Agency dba AppleOne Employment Services. The suit alleged that the African American employees either directly employed by Cardinal Health or assigned to work for Cardinal Health by AppleOne were subjected to ongoing and unwelcome harassment based on their race. Neither company took any action when employees complained which fostered the hostile work environment.   EEOC further charges that employees who did complain were retaliated against, disciplined and terminated, while other employees felt that they had no choice but to quit.

To resolve the lawsuit, Cardinal Health agreed to pay $1.45 million. Cardinal Health and AppleOne Staff entered into separate two-year consent decrees that include injunctive relief including retaining an EEO monitor; conducting audits; establishing an internal complaint procedure; reviewing and revising policies prohibiting discrimination; and distributing the policies to direct and temporary employees.  Both companies also agreed to maintain a toll-free complaint hotline and provide training to all employees. If recommended by the EEO monitor, Cardinal Health will extend the decree an additional year.

Press release