A California-based property service company has agreed to pay $115,000 to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuit alleging that the company discriminated against Latino employees when it disciplined them for being absent from work on May 1, 2006, the day of a “May Day” immigration rally.

The EEOC filed suit after investigating a discrimination charge filed by a Latino employee who was suspended from ResCom Services after his supervisor assumed he had missed work to attend the immigration rally. The agency says that ResCom had previously established a policy prohibiting its workforce from attending the rally.

The EEOC identified two additional current and former Latino employees who were also disciplined, one even being terminated, for their absence on the day of the rally. The EEOC alleged that ResCom subjected them to false assumptions based on stereotypes shaped by their national origin.

The agency says that all three employees had either received pre-approval for their absence or had notified a supervisor in advance of their absences, none of which were related to the rally.