The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Birchstone will pay $55,000 to the woman who filed the discrimination charge and set aside $445,000 in back pay and compensatory damages for other women affected. The agency's investigation found the company rejected qualified female applicants because of their sex. Instead, Birchstone hired men with similar or fewer qualifications, or kept looking for male applicants.
The alleged discrimination ran from at least May 2020 through July 31, 2025. The deal came through the EEOC's pre-litigation conciliation process, so no lawsuit was filed.
Here is what it means for job seekers. Women who applied for Birchstone pallet repairer jobs in Amarillo between May 15, 2020, and July 31, 2025, and believe sex cost them the job may qualify for money. The company also must revise its hiring and recruitment policies, train hiring staff in Amarillo, Houston and Lakewood, Washington, and post notices about equal employment rights. It must audit its recordkeeping every year and report to the EEOC for two years. The EEOC said Birchstone also failed to keep employment records that federal law requires.
The woman who filed the charge put it plainly: "I showed up ready to demonstrate my ability to do the job, only to be told that the company only hires men."