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.
Bruce
Seems to me that the capitalistic solution would be to simply adjust the wages so that the more difficult tasks are compensated more highly than easier and less risky tasks. I don’t know how the hiring or placement process worked to make it possible to see a pattern (maybe DHL really was matching up workers race with area racial majority.) I suppose this is unfair if they were bias against hiring anyone outside of that framework but if you let workers apply for the jobs and hire blindly and those that take the harder & more risky jobs happen to coincide racially, I think the same outcome may have been possible (without the bias) but clearly its unlikely to be so uniform. That is a pretty hefty fine. I wonder how much of that is going to each of the 83 victims vs how much is going to lawyers and EEOC. if the victims got all of the $ that would be $104,819 each if divided evenly. Odds are they may only get a small portion of that. hopefully it helps all of the others who were not part of the suit.
Trucking Master
Public Education is paying extra money to attract Black Teachers, so that the Black Children can see a Black Adult while in school. Public education is attempting to do exactly what DHL is being accused of doing, sending black drivers into black neighborhoods. How in the world can they be fined 8.7 million dollars for this? How can they now have to operate under the watchful eye of a government agent?? No complaint about pay or promotion opportunities?? This is off the chart. Police Departments all over the country are doing the exact same thing also!! so ok for government to do it, but not private business?
Trucking Master
Another reason to vote out every democrat every where. Public Education is paying extra money to attract Black Teachers, so that the Black Children can see a Black Adult while in school. Public education is attempting to do exactly what DHL is being accused of doing, sending black drivers into black neighborhoods. How in the world can they be fined 8.7 million dollars for this? How can they now have to operate under the watchful eye of a government agent?? No complaint about pay or promotion opportunities?? This is off the chart. Police Departments all over the country are doing the exact same thing also!! so ok for government to do it, but not private business?
Brian Lyons
Another reason to vote out every democrat every where. Public Education is paying extra money to attract Black Teachers, so that the Black Children can see a Black Adult while in school. Public education is attempting to do exactly what DHL is being accused of doing, sending black drivers into black neighborhoods. How in the world can they be fined 8.7 million dollars for this? How can they now have to operate under the watchful eye of a government agent?? No complaint about pay or promotion opportunities?? This is off the chart. Police Departments all over the country are doing the exact same thing also!! so ok for government to do it, but not private business?
Freight Forwarding Expert Since…
It’s disgusting that a reputable company like DHL does this. I know they could do better.