RJB Properties, Inc., a minority-owned and operated janitorial services provider, announced today that it has reached a settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in EEOC v. RJB Properties, Inc., et al., Case No. 10-cv-2001 (N.D. Ill.), to resolve remaining claims following the district court’s summary judgment ruling last year in RJB’s favor.

“Our client is very pleased with the settlement,” according to RJB attorney Peter Roeser of the law firmRoeser Bucheit & Graham LLC. “Although RJB was confident that it would ultimately prevail on the few claims that remained following its victory on summary judgment, it was able to settle those claims for a fraction of what the EEOC originally sought before the majority of its claims were dismissed on summary judgment.”

The EEOC originally filed suit against RJB Properties, Inc. in 2010, accusing the company of committing over 150 purported acts of national origin discrimination, harassment and retaliation against 20 Hispanic and two African-American employees. Among other things, the EEOC alleged that RJB discriminated against janitors by asking them to mop floors, shovel snow, remove garbage, by not providing overtime opportunities, and by not promoting employees for jobs to which they never applied.

At the close of discovery, RJB moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the complained of actions did not give rise to cognizable claims of employment discrimination, and that there was no evidence to indicate that they were in any way motivated by national origin. In April 2012, the district court issued a ruling rejecting the EEOC’s expansive interpretation of what constitutes employment discrimination under Title VII and finding that there was no evidence on most of the EEOC’s claims to indicate that the various employment actions were motivated by national origin discrimination. Among other things, the court entered judgment in favor of RJB on all of the EEOC’s claims for failure to promote, all of the EEOC’s failure to provide overtime claims, and twelve harassment claims. The court’s 120-page opinion dismissed over 130 acts of purported discrimination.

RJB Properties was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Orland Park, Illinois. It is a premier provider of janitorial services and facilities management services. RJB was represented by Peter Roeser, John Bucheit and Darrell Graham of the law firm Roeser Bucheit & Graham LLC, a Chicago-based business litigation firm with a substantial employment law practice.