WARREN, MICHIGAN — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against Central Transport, LLC on March 31, 2026, accusing the Warren, Michigan-based trucking company of systematically refusing to hire qualified female truck drivers nationwide for nearly a decade.
The EEOC filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona on behalf of truck drivers Maquater Hamilton, Cassandra Coleman, and other qualified women who applied to drive for Central Transport from January 2016 to the present. The suit seeks backpay, punitive damages, and a permanent injunction against discriminatory hiring practices. The EEOC requested a jury trial.
The Allegations
The EEOC accuses Central Transport of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by refusing to hire female truck driver applicants because of their sex on a nationwide basis from 2016 to the present. Investigators found that many female applicants were never interviewed despite meeting or exceeding minimum qualifications. Female applicants were also not treated consistently with the company’s standard recruiting and hiring practices.
“Central Transport’s decisions with regard to hiring qualified female truck driver applicants, when compared to male applicants, resulted in significantly fewer female applicants being hired than would be statistically expected on a nationwide basis for the years 2016 through January 2022,” the complaint states.
Maquater Hamilton
Hamilton applied to Central Transport in 2016 with approximately 15 years of truck driving experience. The company declined to interview her and failed to forward her application to the recruiting department. Around the same time, a male truck driver named Demetrius Saunders — the husband of one of Hamilton’s friends — was hired with just two months of experience. Hamilton filed a discrimination charge with the EEOC in September 2016.
Cassandra Coleman
Coleman brought approximately 21 years of truck driving experience when she applied at Central Transport’s Phoenix Terminal in November 2016. A male dispatcher told her the company had all the people it needed and tried to discourage her from even filling out an application. “It’s not going to do you any good,” the dispatcher told her, suggesting she come back in a couple of weeks instead. When Coleman asked whether Central Transport hired female truck drivers, the dispatcher said he wasn’t sure how many women worked there, if any. Coleman submitted her application anyway. She was not interviewed or hired.
Coleman applied again at the Portland Terminal in 2019. She was told the position had been filled. During the period immediately before and after she submitted that application, Central Transport’s Portland Terminal hired four male truck drivers. Coleman filed a discrimination charge with the EEOC in February 2020.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
📸 Image(s) used under fair use for news reporting.
