2 Northern MN employers to pay $45K settlements over sex discrimination

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights announced Thursday, Oct. 9, two settlements of what it called blatant workplace sex discrimination from Northern Minnesota employers.

Lakes Concrete Plus in Bemidji and Key Lime Air in Thief River Falls each agreed to pay $45,000 as a result of human rights investigations.

Lakes Concrete Plus unlawfully fired a concrete truck driver, the human rights department said. According to an investigation, the truck driver was fired on account of her sex, with Lakes Concrete reportedly telling her driving a concrete truck was not “women’s work,” and that she should find a job “more fitting.”

The settlement requires the business to pay the former employee $45,000 for lost wages and implement changes to create a workplace free from discrimination.

Key Lime Air, which operates flight services in Thief River Falls, refused to hire a qualified applicant on account of his sex. The department found the company has a practice of only hiring women as flight attendants because it believes women are “better” than men for the position.

Under the settlement agreement, Key Lime Air must pay the former job applicant approximately $45,000 for damages and ensure its workplace policies do not discriminate against job applicants and employees in Minnesota.

“In Minnesota, we know that work should provide for food and warmth in our homes and our communities, not discrimination," stated Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero in a news release. "And we’ve worked hard to eliminate the notion that certain jobs ought to be performed by a woman or a man. Yet, these two cases demonstrate that there is still work left to do.

“Minnesota’s civil rights laws require workplaces to proactively prevent and address discrimination because both employers and employees are stronger when civil rights laws are followed.”

Minnesota’s civil rights law, the Minnesota Human Rights Act, requires employers to prevent and address sex discrimination so that employees and job applicants "can live, work, and be free from discrimination," the release stated.

About 22% of Minnesotans who file charges with the Department of Human Rights allege sex discrimination. The department is the state's civil rights enforcement agency, with some of the strongest state civil rights laws in the country.

Sex stereotypes are assumptions about the kinds of traits, behaviors or roles that women and men are expected to have. Sex stereotypes can lead to sex discrimination through unequal pay, termination, demotion and harassment, according to the Department of Human Rights.