The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently filed a lawsuit for gender-based wage discrimination lawsuit against NFI Road Rail and NFI Industries.

It alleges the New Jersey-based business that provides logistics, transportation and warehouse services to manufacturers and retailers, with an NFI Road Rail office in Irving, Texas, paid a female director less than the salaries paid to two males for doing the same job. The suit also asserts that the female employee was ultimately forced to quit her job on Sept. 27, 2011.

Amy Brown held the position of director of intermodal operations prior to and after male comparators who were paid more for performing the same job, according to an EEOC release. Brown claimed despite having raised the pay disparity with management on a number of occasions, she never achieved pay parity and was simply told by one of the owners to be "thankful" for what she got.

"This is a textbook case of paying women less than men for doing the same job in what can be seen as a typically male-oriented industry," said William Backhaus, trial attorney for the EEOC's Dallas District Office. "Employers have a statutory duty under federal law to pay women what men are paid for doing the same job."

Such alleged conduct violates the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to EEOC.

The commission filed suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

The agency seeks “injunctive relief, including the formulation of policies that prevent and correct pay disparities for the same or similar jobs performed by employees, irrespective of gender,” it said.

The suit also seeks lost wages and compensatory and punitive damages, among other forms of relief.