A temporary staffing agency illegally barred women from seeking some positions because of their gender and retaliated against one woman for filing a complaint, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said yesterday. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Worcester, the EEOC alleged that Preferred Labor LLC, doing business as Preferred People Staffing, subjected Catherine Darensbourg and other female job applicants to repeated discrimination by failing to refer them for temporary employment based on their gender. In addition, the company is alleged to have violated federal laws by honoring clients’ requests to only send male employees to certain job sites.