DHL to Pay $8.7M to Settle Race Discrimination Lawsuit in Illinois

Delivery company DHL will pay $8.7 million and be subject to the oversight of a court-appointed monitor to settle a class race discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced.

The EEOC charged in its suit that DHL assigned its Black employees to routes in neighborhoods with higher crime rates compared to those assigned to its white drivers, gave Black employees much heavier dock work, and segregated its Black and white employees.

Black employees often witnessed crime and sometimes were victims of crime on their assigned routes. Additionally, Black employees reported being assigned to move large, heavy packages while their white counterparts were assigned the far less strenuous task of sorting letters.

Discriminating based on race in the terms and conditions of employment and engaging in racial segregation violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Civil Action No.10-cv-6139), after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Under the consent decree resolving the lawsuit, DHL will pay $8.7 million in compensation to a group of 83 Black employees subjected to the alleged discriminatory conduct who chose to participate in the lawsuit. Twenty of these employees were represented by private counsel.

Source: EEOC