Popular gas station could catch a break as feds move to drop lawsuit | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

A few very popular gas stations have loyal followings in various parts of the United States. Wawa and 7-Eleven are two of them, and Sheetz is the third.

While 7-Eleven is primarily known for its Slurpees and Wawa for its subs and sandwiches, Sheetz offers a variety of made-to-order food, a coffee shop with Sheetz Brothers Coffee, and (in some locations) even a beer cave.

The gas station is also generally open 24/7 in most areas, so you know you can count on Sheetz at any hour.

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Sheetz has, however, been facing some legal problems lately. Specifically, the gas station was being sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lawsuit against the company was initiated in April of 2024 under the Biden Administration and has proceeded through the court system.

Now, however, Sheetz may catch a break. That’s because on Friday, federal authorities moved to drop the case.

The EEOC dropping a lawsuit should come as a big relief.

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Why was Sheetz being sued?

Sheetz was being sued by the Biden EEOC for racial discrimination. Specifically, the case was based on a legal theory called disparate impact.

Under this legal theory, a company can be held liable for discrimination if it puts a facially neutral policy in place that has a disproportionately negative or disqualifying effect on a protected group. In this particular case, the policy that Sheetz put in place was a prohibition against hiring anyone who failed a criminal background check.

The EEOC under President Biden found this policy to be discriminatory against multiracial job applicants, as well as against Black and Native American applicants.

The agency determined this after finding that 14.5% of Black job applicants failed the screening and were denied employment, while Native Americans were denied at a rate of 13%, and 13.5% of multiracial job seekers were unable to gain employment with the gas station.

“Federal law mandates that employment practices causing a disparate impact because of race or other protected classifications must be shown by the employer to be necessary to ensure the safe and efficient performance of the particular jobs at issue,” Debra M. Lawrence, an attorney for the EECO, said in a statement at the time.

Lawrence added that even when the company proved the rule was necessary, “the practice remains unlawful if there is an alternative practice available that is comparably effective in achieving the employer’s goals but causes less discriminatory effect.”

Why is the Trump Administration dropping the lawsuit – and what happens next?

The EEOC moved last Friday to drop the case against Sheetz, filing its motion in a federal court in Pennsylvania.

The agency cited new executive orders put in place by the Trump Administration directing the agency to deprioritize the use of disparate impact discrimination when deciding which anti-discrimination cases to pursue.

Dropping the case is part of the administration’s broader effort to change how civil rights claims are handled — this includes going after Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, terminating EEOC workers, and redirecting agency heads to implement his agenda.

It does not necessarily mean the lawsuit against Sheetz will be unable to proceed at all, as a Black worker terminated from his job at a Pennsylvania Sheetz filed a motion in federal court Thursday to intervene in the case and move forward with a class action lawsuit, independently of the EEOC.

In its motion, the EEOC also asked the court to delay dismissal of the lawsuit for 60 days to allow potential plaintiffs to intervene.

Still, without the federal government pursuing the case, Sheetz may stand a better chance of resolving outstanding claims quickly through settlement or fighting accusations of wrongdoing made by private plaintiffs.

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It’s undoubtedly better not to have the full power of a government agency against you when you’re being sued, so the EEOC’s motion to dismiss likely comes as a welcome relief to the popular gas station.