Scion Dental of Menomonee Falls Sued for Race Discrimination

MILWAUKEE – A Menomonee Falls dental benefit administration company violated federal law when it refused to hire and then fired an African-American woman because of her race, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed Wednesday.

According to EEOC’ s complaint, Nartisha Leija, who had successfully performed her job
with Scion Dental, Inc. as a temporary employee, was subjected to race discrimination in hiring when Scion disqualified her application for permanent employment. Scion s stated reason for failing to consider Leija was that she lacked a college degree. However, Scion subsequently hired Caucasian applicants without college degrees into the same position. The company continued recruiting for the
position and went on to hire four additional non-black candidates before ultimately discharging Leija
from her temporary position.

EEOC filed its lawsuit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Scion Dental, Inc.) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in
Milwaukee after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
The agency seeks back pay and compensatory and punitive damages for Leija. The suit also seeks injunctive relief to prevent future race discrimination with reporting requirements and training of Scion’ s managers and employees on federal equal employment opportunity laws.

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