The hiring stats behind this EEOC complaint are hard to ignore
A Texas tree services company hired more than 1,900 men for field roles over four and a half years - and no more than 12 women, the EEOC alleges.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against Sequoias Tree Expert, LLC on September 30, 2026, in the Southern District of Texas, claiming the company ran a company-wide practice of refusing to hire women for field positions including groundsman, trimmer, foreman, and driver roles.
The complaint centers on a female applicant with years of experience in the tree trimming industry, including work as a foreman, groundsman, and trimmer. According to the filing, she applied for a groundsman position with Sequoias on or around February 17, 2025, after being recruited by a man who had been hired as - or had applied for - a general foreman role with the company.
That recruiter submitted her application alongside those of several other female and male applicants and recommended her to one of the company's project managers, the complaint states.
The response, according to the EEOC, was blunt: the company would not hire her because she is a woman.
The filing alleges the recruiter told the applicant that same day - February 17, 2025 - that Sequoias had refused to hire her because of her sex. Days later, on or around February 19, 2025, the company's HR manager offered her an office position instead. Not the groundsman job. Not any field role.
When the applicant told the HR manager she had been denied the field job because she was female, the HR manager did not deny it, according to the filing.
The EEOC alleges the company hired the male applicants the recruiter had brought in during that same February 2025 period but did not hire any of the female applicants.
Then there are the numbers.
From January 1, 2022 until on or about June 30, 2025 - the date the company received notice of the charging party's administrative complaint - Sequoias hired no more than five women for field positions, the complaint alleges. Possibly fewer. Over the broader window from January 2022 to June 2026, the company employed no more than 12 women in field-related roles.
In that same period, the EEOC alleges Sequoias hired over 1,900 men for field positions.
The complaint goes further. It alleges the company's CEO stated to one or more employees words to the effect that it is "unacceptable" to hire women into field positions. It also alleges company staff deterred female job seekers from even completing applications by telling them - falsely, according to the filing - that the company was not hiring for field roles at the time.
The EEOC is seeking a permanent injunction, backpay with prejudgment interest, and compensatory and punitive damages. The agency also wants Sequoias ordered to put in place policies and programs that provide equal employment opportunities for women.
Before filing suit, the EEOC issued an administrative determination on August 7, 2026, finding reasonable cause to believe Sequoias had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through discriminatory recruitment and hiring. Conciliation efforts failed, and the agency issued a notice of failure of conciliation on August 26, 2026.
For HR leaders in field-heavy industries - tree care, construction, utilities, landscaping - the hiring numbers alleged here are the kind of stark gender imbalance that draws EEOC enforcement action.
None of the allegations in the complaint have been tested, and no court has made any findings or rulings in this matter.
