EEOC Race Bias Suit Settles for $8.7 Million

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has secured an $8.7 million settlement in a case that alleged unlawful race discrimination by the major delivery company DHL.

The agency initially brought suit against DHL in September of 2010. It filed the suit on behalf of a class of African American DHL employees who allegedly were given different job assignments because of their race. The suit was filed in a federal district court in Illinois, and it followed the completion of an investigation that was headed by the agency’s Chicago district director.

When it filed the suit, the EEOC said that DHL assigned Black drivers to predominantly Black neighborhoods while assigning white drivers to predominantly white neighborhoods.

EEOC said Black employees got more dangerous assignments

It also said the employer assigned more difficult and dangerous work to Black employees than white employees.

“Any employer who gives different work assignments to employees simply because of the color of their skin, sends a message to all of its employees that it is by no means colorblind,” EEOC Regional Attorney John Hendrickson said at the time. “The concept of ‘separate but equal’ has long since been rejected.  It has absolutely no place on the job.”

In the press release announcing the case’s resolution, the agency eliminated any reference to the racial makeup of the neighborhoods to which its drivers were assigned. Instead, it said in the press release announcing the settlement that DHL assigned Black employees to routes with higher crime rates. Black employees witnessed crime and even became crime victims while on their assigned routes, the EEOC alleged.

Segregation and other alleged mistreatment

It added that Black employees were assigned much heavier dock work. Black employees were also assigned to move large, heavy packages while white employees sorted letters, the agency said.

This segregation and other related mistreatment violated Title VII, the agency alleged.

To end the long-running suit, DHL agreed to pay $8.7 million to a group of 83 Black employees who were subjected to its alleged discriminatory actions.

The consent decree that resolves the suit also requires DHL to:

• train its employees about federal laws that ban race discrimination, and
• provide the EEOC and an individual compliance monitor with periodic reports relating to discrimination complaints and work assignments.

Former EEOC commissioner will serve as monitor

The individual compliance monitor is former EEOC Commissioner Leslie Silverman. For four years, Silverman will make sure that DHL is doing a good job when it comes to complaint procedures, investigations and training.

Silverman will also monitor DHL to make sure that work assignments are not based on the race of employees.

Though the case wasn’t about unequal pay or promotion denials, the agency said, the alleged conduct was just as bad under Title VII.

“[S]egregating employees and giving them unequal work assignments based on their race is just as unlawful,” said Gregary Gochanour, EEOC regional attorney. “Such practices should not occur in any workplace.”

Title VII ban is broad

As the EEOC stressed here, Title VII’s ban on discrimination based on one’s membership in a protected class is broad. In fact, it applies to all terms, conditions and privileges of employment.

Some violations are more common: Unlawful firing or refusal to hire come to mind.

But don’t be fooled into thinking that other, less commonly asserted wrongful conduct cannot constitute equally illegal behavior. And segregating employees by race and giving them unequal work assignments on that basis falls squarely within the range of employer behavior that Title VII prohibits.

Here are just a few examples of the terms, conditions and privileges of employment to which Title VII applies:

• Length of employment contract
• Hours of work
• Attendance requirements
• Lunch breaks
• Rest breaks
• Work rules
• Job assignments and duties.

It’s really quite simple: Don’t treat applicants or employees differently based on protected class with respect to any term, condition or privilege of employment.