Piedmont Cheerwine Bottling Company Fined $36,000 Over Disability Discrimination Lawsuit
Piedmont Cheerwine Bottling Company in Colfax, N.C., has been ordered to pay $36,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined the company unlawfully terminated a former employee due to their disability status.
Charlotte, NC, August 22, 2026 —
Piedmont Cheerwine Bottling Company, located in Colfax, North Carolina, has agreed to pay $36,000 to resolve a disability discrimination lawsuit filed against it. The settlement was reached following an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The EEOC determined that the company unlawfully terminated a former employee because of their disability status. The specifics of the employee’s disability were not detailed in the information provided.
The lawsuit alleged that the termination violated federal anti-discrimination laws, specifically the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The company has now been ordered to pay the settlement amount to the affected former employee.
The EEOC is the federal agency responsible for enforcing laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. The agency’s involvement in this case led to the resolution and the subsequent fine imposed on Piedmont Cheerwine Bottling Company.
The settlement amount of $36,000 is intended to compensate the former employee for damages incurred as a result of the alleged discriminatory termination.
Story summarized from the original created by Jim Sands and Emily Mikkelsen on www.qcnews.com, see more information here.
