Website Brief
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says a Denver-area company limited the hiring of Black applicants and also discriminated against women and Afghan applicants.
What Happened
Mile Hi Companies, a Denver-based food and paper-products distribution group, has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a federal employment discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
According to the EEOC, the company denied employment opportunities to Black, female and Afghan applicants beginning in 2015. The agency alleged that the company’s CEO specifically directed that the percentage of Black applicants hired should be limited, that women should not be hired for warehouse positions, and that Afghan applicants should no longer be hired for bakery jobs.
The EEOC also alleged that a human resources manager who opposed those directives was harassed and ultimately fired. The agency filed suit in federal court in Colorado in 2024 under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Under a three-year consent decree, Mile Hi Companies will provide monetary relief to the former human resources manager and affected applicants. The company must also review its employment policies, provide anti-discrimination training, maintain applicant records and periodically report its compliance efforts to the EEOC.
Why It Matters
The case is notable because the alleged discrimination was not framed as an indirect disparity in hiring outcomes. The EEOC alleges that senior management expressly sought to limit the hiring of Black applicants.
That makes the settlement a useful reminder that federal employment law continues to prohibit race-based restrictions at the hiring stage, including policies or instructions designed to control the racial composition of a workforce.
The retaliation allegations are also significant. Title VII protects employees who oppose employment practices they reasonably believe are discriminatory, including human resources professionals who resist discriminatory instructions from management.
For Black workers and job applicants, the case illustrates both the continuing role of federal enforcement in combating discriminatory hiring and the importance of protections for employees who challenge those practices internally.
Source
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Mile Hi Foods to Pay $1.5 Million in EEOC Race, Sex, and National Origin Discrimination Lawsuit, September 25, 2026.