EEOC Obtains $1.1M Settlement for Male Employees Denied Equal Paid Baby Bonding Time as New Moms

Yesterday, the EEOC announced the $1.1M settlement of a class action lawsuit asserting reverse discrimination under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII in favor of 210 new fathers who were denied parental leave benefits provided to new mothers by the Estee Lauder Company. The EEOC alleged in the lawsuit that it filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania at Civil Action No. 2:17-cv-03897-JP that the employer provided “new fathers, less paid leave to bond with a newborn, or with a newly adopted or fostered child, than it provided new mothers. The parental leave at issue was separate from medical leave received by mothers for childbirth and related issues. The EEOC also alleged that the company unlawfully denied new fathers return-to-work benefits provided to new mothers, such as temporary modified work schedules, to ease the transition to work after the arrival of a new child and exhaustion of paid parental leave.”  In particular, male employees received two weeks of paid parental leave, compared to the six weeks of parental leave that female employees received after their medical leaves had ended.

The Consent Decree, which was entered yesterday, requires Estee Lauder to administer parental leave and return-to-work policies in a non-discriminatory manner.  Estee Lauder recently implemented “a revised parental leave policy that provides all eligible employees, regardless of gender or care­giver status, the same 20 weeks of paid leave for child bonding and the same six-week flexibility period upon returning to work. For biological mothers, these parental paid leave benefits begin after any period of medical leave occasioned by childbirth. The benefits apply retroactively to all employees who experi­enced a qualifying event (e.g. birth, adoption, foster placement) since Jan. 1, 2018. The decree also requires that Estée Lauder provide training on unlawful sex discrimination and allow monitoring by the EEOC.”

NOTICE: This summary is designed merely to inform and alert you of recent legal developments. It does not constitute legal advice and does not apply to any particular situation because different facts could lead to different results. Information here can be changed or amended without notice. Readers should not act upon this information without legal advice. If you have any questions about anything you have read, you should consult with or retain an employment attorney