Jerry’s Chevrolet Inc., and Jerry’s Motor Cars Inc., both of Baltimore County, Md., will pay $62,500 to settle a pay discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s suit, a female employee worked as a dispatcher but was paid less than a male dispatcher, both performing equal work. When the female employee complained to human resources about the wage disparity, that department told her that someone would look into the matter. Instead, a week later she was fired. The company claimed that a profanity she had uttered during a break was the reason for her termination, although months earlier, a male employee who had engaged in far more offensive conduct had received only a written warning.

The Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit discrimination based on pay and prohibit retaliation against employees who request pay equal to employees of the opposite sex. The EEOC filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Jerry’s Chevrolet and Jerry’s Motorcars will be required to adopt a policy which creates channels for employees to report unequal pay and procedures for handling those complaints. The company will train its managers and supervisory employees on preventing sex-based wage discrim­ination arising under Title VII and the Equal Pay Act and those statutes’ retaliation prohibitions, with particular emphasis on retaliation against those who request equal pay. The company will also report to the EEOC on how it handles any pay discrimination complaints.