Gordon Food Service To Pay $1.85M For Forcing Women Into 'Strength Test'

The U.S. Department of Labor announced Wednesday that the western Michigan-based company has agreed to give $1.85 million in back wages, interest and benefits to 926 qualified women seeking warehouse employment who were "systematically discriminated against," with the company being ordered to hire 37 women.

Previously, 6 women had been hired, compared to nearly 300 men.

The Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs indicated that it found Gordon Food Service "systematically eliminated qualified women from the hiring process through various discriminatory means, including the unlawful use of the strength test."

The food distribution company did not admit liability. It says it has changed its hiring process to "ensure a fair and objective process that eliminates the presumption of bias."

"(W)e believe the test was more stringent than the actual job requirements," Labor Department spokesman Scott Allen said in an e-mail to the Detroit Free Press. "As for specific lifting requirements, there were none. Rather, the test measured upper and lower body resistance."

Freep.com added that over the last three years, Gordon Food Service has won close to $4.5 million in food contracts with the U.S. departments of Defense and Agriculture and the federal prison system.