Delivery company DHL has agreed to pay $8.7 million to settle a class race discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
DHL, a transport and logistics provider, will pay the settlement to a group of 83 Black employees who were subjected to discrimination because of their race, the EEOC announced in April. The company will also be subjected to the oversight of former EEOC Commissioner Leslie Silverman to monitor compliance with the consent decree.
“In this case, the EEOC made no claim that Black workers were paid less than others or denied promotions,” Gregory Gochanour, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Chicago District Office, said in the announcement. “However, segregating employees and giving them unequal work assignments based on their race is just as unlawful. Such practices should not occur in any workplace. We are confident that the measures put in place by the consent decree will ensure that DHL’s employees are treated equally going forward.”
The lawsuit, which was filed in September 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that the company assigned Black employees to more difficult and more dangerous routes than white employees. The company also assigned Black drivers to routes in predominantly Black neighborhoods and assigned white drivers to deliver in predominantly white neighborhoods, according to the suit.
“Black employees often witnessed crime and sometimes were victims of crime on their assigned routes,” the EEOC said in its announcement.
Black employees were also required to move large, heavy packages while white employees were assigned the task of sorting letters, the announcement says.
The consent decree requires the company to train its workforce on federal laws prohibiting race discrimination and provide reports to Silverman about work assignments and race discrimination complaints. Silverman will monitor the company for four years.