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EEOC sues Home Depot
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March 24, 1997: 9:52 p.m. ET
Retailer accused of discriminating against women in jobs, pay
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Monday joined a class-action lawsuit charging retailer Home Depot with sex discrimination.
Four women first filed the charge in New Orleans in 1995. They accused the company of systematically skipping over women for promotions and offering less pay to female employees.
The EEOC is suing on behalf of about 35,000 women working in 310 Home Depot stores in the eastern United States.
"While Home Depot has a glass ceiling problem, it also traps its female employees into what we perceive as a glass basement with glass walls," said Gregory Stewart, general counsel of the EEOC.
Home Depot responded by saying it was "puzzled and outraged" at the EEOC. It defended its record and said it is proud of its promotion of women.
But plaintiff Carol Lee Griffin, now unemployed, accused the company of failing to advance her from her position of decorator. (251K WAV) or (251K AIFF)
Two other sex-discrimination lawsuits have been filed against the retailer in California and New Jersey.
The EEOC suit says Home Depot assigned entry-level women to cashier positions while turning men into sales associates. It says the company refused to promote women to sales or managerial positions. 
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