The petition, filed Wednesday in federal court in San Antonio, also maintains that Ingram Park Chrysler owner Benson Enterprises Inc. allowed managers to retaliate against the women and create a hostile work environment.
Officials with Benson Enterprises were unavailable for immediate comment on the suit.
According to the allegations in the EEOC's suit, a male manager at the Northwest San Antonio dealership repeatedly subjected a female fleet-service advisor to degrading sexist comments. The same manager also directed clients away from her and excluded her from internal company communications, resulting in a loss of business that cut into her sales commissions, the petition states.
The EEOC's petition also maintains the manager excluded the fleet-service advisor and another female employee from a group chat involving male employees in which he exclusively shared details about competitions for monetary bonuses. As a result, both women were denied the ability to compete for additional pay, the suit alleges.
What's more, the dealership fired the fleet-services advisor after she reported the discriminatory treatment to multiple managers and the human resources department, the EEOC maintains in its court filing.
“Equality is an important tenet of our democracy, and no woman should have to work in an environment that is hostile to her based on her sex,” EEOC Trial Attorney Brian Hawthorne said in an emailed statement. “The EEOC will vigorously defend employees’ right to work in a place free from discrimination and retaliatory conduct.”
The EEOC is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the two women, along with back pay. It also wants Benson Enterprises to either reinstate the fired fleet-service advisor or provide her with additional compensation.
EEOC officials said they filed the suit after trying to reach a pre-litigation settlement with Benson Enterprises through the agency's conciliation process.
“If employees are experiencing what they believe to be unlawful employment practices, it should be safe to bring those matters to the attention of management or HR," Robert Canino, a regional attorney for the EEOC said in a statement. "Complaints of discrimination should be reviewed for possible correction and prevention without fear of repercussions for the employee that complained.”
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