Sioux Falls Oral Surgery Clinic Pays $118,775 to Settle EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Case

PHOENIX – Siouxland Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, LLP of Sioux Falls, S.D., has agreed to pay $95,000 in punitive damages and attorneys’ fees, in addition to $23,775 paid earlier this year for lost earnings and interest, to resolve a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of two pregnant women discriminated against in 2002. Siouxland is a medical clinic in Sioux Falls that specializes in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

The EEOC’s suit charged that Richelle Dooley was fired days after Siouxland learned of her pregnancy, and that a few months later, Siouxland refused to hire Angie Gacke after learning in an employment interview that Gacke was pregnant.

The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement out of court through its conciliation process. In 2007 a jury found that Siouxland had intentionally discriminated against Dooley and Gacke because of their pregnancies and awarded $21,098 in lost earnings. EEOC appealed because the trial judge had refused to give the jury an instruction on punitive damages. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1991, punitive damages are available where it is proven that the employer engaged in discrimination with malice or reckless indifference to the civil rights of the claimant.

On August 27, 2009, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision upholding the jury verdict for the claimants, and additionally holding that the jury should have been instructed on punitive damages. [See EEOC et al v. Siouxland Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, L.L.P., 578 F.3d 921 (8th Cir. 2009).] As a result of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, the case was returned to Sioux Falls for a second trial on punitive damages. After the appeal was decided, Siouxland paid the two women $23,775 for the back pay amounts previously awarded, plus interest. As a result of the parties’ agreement to resolve the remaining punitive damages and attorneys’ fees claims for $95,000, the case is now completely resolved.

The settlement agreement filed in U.S. District Court for Southern District of South Dakota (EEOC, et. al. v. Siouxland Maxillofacial Surgery Assoc., LLP CIV. 044215) also includes Siouxland’s agreement to provide training for Siouxland employees and supervisors on sex and pregnancy discrimination as well as reporting by Siouxland to the EEOC on other complaints of sex discrimination, including pregnancy bias.