The U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission has filed suit in federal court in Arizona against a trucking company that the EEOC claims refused to hire qualified women truck drivers because of their sex. The complaint alleges that the company’s decisions with regard to hiring qualified female truck driver applicants, when compared to male applicants, resulted in significantly fewer female applicants being hired than would be statistically expected on a nationwide basis for the years 2016 through January 2022.

The EEOC asserted that all decisions on whether to grant an interview were made at the company’s Warren, Michigan office. EEOC claims the company failed to interview many of the female applicants for truck driver positions even though they met or exceeded the minimum qualifications for the truck driver positions. Instead, the complaint alleges Central Transport hired many lesser-qualified male driver applicants.

The lawsuit seeks back pay with interest for the two female complainants, a preliminary injunction against the motor carrier with a requirement to change its hiring practices, and punitive damages for the carrier’s “malice or reckless indifference to their federally protected rights.”