Federal regulators have filed a lawsuit against national trucking carrier KLLM Transport Services LLC and its subsidiary driving academy, alleging that companywide training policies discriminated against female truck driver trainees.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the lawsuit on Thursday against KLLM Transport Services LLC and KLLM Driving Academy Inc., which operates driver training academies in Lancaster, Texas, and Jackson, Mississippi. The complaint alleges that KLLM delayed training for female trainees, withheld pay under certain conditions, and imposed requirements that were not applied to male trainees.

The EEOC alleges the companies violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through sex-based training and pay practices dating back to at least January 2021.

At the center of the case is KLLM's handling of male trainers who declined to train female student drivers. According to the EEOC, KLLM allowed male trainers to opt out of training women rather than providing separate sleeping accommodations during over-the-road training. During such training, new drivers typically live and sleep in the same truck cab as an assigned instructor for weeks at a time, making sleeper-berth arrangements a central logistical and privacy concern. That policy, the agency alleges, resulted in female student drivers waiting longer than their male counterparts to begin training.

The lawsuit also challenges how trainees were compensated while waiting for instructors. The EEOC alleges that KLLM did not pay female student drivers who requested female trainers while they waited for one to become available. Meanwhile, the company allegedly continued paying other student drivers awaiting the start of training — including male students who had requested male trainers.

Federal regulators further allege that KLLM imposed an additional requirement exclusively on women who agreed to train with male instructors. Female student drivers willing to receive instruction from a male trainer were required to notify their spouse or partner before they could begin training, according to the complaint. The EEOC said no comparable requirement was imposed on male trainees.

"Rather than provide the female student driver's single-sex sleeping quarters that protected their privacy and ensured equal employment opportunity," acting EEOC General Counsel Catherine Eschbach said in a news release, the company adopted policies that "treated women trainees worse than male trainees."

The agency contends these practices constitute unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII, which prohibits employers from discriminating based on sex in employment.

The EEOC filed the case — U.S. EEOC v. KLLM Transport Services LLC and KLLM Driving Academy Inc., Case No. 3:26-cv-02590-E — in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. The lawsuit followed an unsuccessful attempt by the EEOC and KLLM to resolve the allegations through the agency's administrative conciliation process.

"Under federal law, all workers in the United States have a right to be given a fair opportunity to succeed based on their knowledge, skills and effort, not their sex," EEOC Dallas District Office Director Travis Nicholson said. "That fundamental principle applies to all aspects of their jobs, including training and other terms and conditions of employment."

The litigation comes as the trucking industry continues to seek ways to recruit and retain more women in a workforce that has historically been overwhelmingly male. Women have consistently accounted for a small share of the nation's truck driver population — roughly 8% of over-the-road drivers, according to industry estimates from the Women in Trucking Association — even as carriers face persistent driver shortages and have increasingly looked to expand their recruitment pipelines. Acting EEOC Dallas Regional Attorney Ronald L. Phillips specifically addressed that issue in announcing the lawsuit, stating that sex discrimination remains a barrier to women seeking jobs in historically male-dominated industries such as trucking.

Phillips said those industries can offer long-term career opportunities and that the agency intends to ensure women have equal access to those positions.

The EEOC announcement does not state the amount of monetary damages being sought or provide the number of current or former KLLM trainees allegedly affected by the policies.

FreightWaves reached out to KLLM Transport Services for comment on the lawsuit.

The EEOC lawsuit places renewed scrutiny on how trucking companies structure over-the-road driver training — particularly policies involving sleeper accommodations, trainer preferences, and compensation — all of which can affect women's ability to enter and advance in the industry.

Source: EEOC news release