Big class action news: Sodhexo race case settled
April 28, 2005This just in from today’s Washington Post:
“$80 Million Settles Race-Bias Case: Black Managers Said Sodexho Wouldn’t Promote Them” by Annys Shin
Lawsuit claimed Sodexho, which “runs corporate cafeterias and provides groundskeeping and other services to . . . companies, government offices, universities and other institutions, . . . systematically denied promotions to 3,400 black mid-level managers.”
I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet the focus of this case was not, as it should have been, on the qualifications of these folks for promotion and the reasons someone else was selected to fill the positions.
IMHO that should be the only relevant fact. Instead, to the extent my quick morning surf disclosed, it appears this case was built on — you guessed it — statistics and anecdotal evidence.
Remedies:
“[W]idespread training and a more structured hiring process for its 106,000 employees throughout the country.”
Sodexho said they have already implemented many remedies in the settlement, “such as tying bonuses for top executives to the company’s progress toward workforce diversity goals.”
Good idea? Dunno. Why not just bonus them for promoting people who perform well and stay with the company?
The thousands of members of the certified class will receive as much as to $60,000 each, based on their length of service, while 10 named plaintiffs who brought the case in 2001 will receive an additional $120,000 each.
And the attorneys? Story doesn’t say.
I hope to return to this story, time permitting. I’d like to put up some links to original source material on this important case and invite Michael and others to comment.
Related Posts
Long article on diversity in Christian Science Monitor
Wal-Mart Releases Diversity Information: But Is There Enough Information There?
Michael writes about improving diversity in recruitment and hiring
UPDATED Details of the Abercrombie & Fitch Settlement: Wondering How Much Class Counsel Was Awarded?
Is the Bottle Half Full or Half Empty? Summary of Coca-Cola’s Annual HR Task Force Report
`Sphere: Related Content`
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
If you want to leave a feedback to this post or to some other user´s comment, simply fill out the form below.