Jerry Maatman Quoted in Workforce Management "EEOC Campaign Takes aim at Race, Color Bias"
03/23/2007
The March 12, 2007 issue of Workforce Management carries the article "EEOC Campaign Takes aim at Race, Color Bias" noting that "Almost one year ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission launched an initiative to target systemic discrimination by pursuing pattern and practice cases and class actions. Late last month, the agency indicated that racial discrimination is likely to be a primary focus of that effort by introducing a campaign called ``Eradicating Racism and Colorism from Employment.'' Technological advances have introduced new ways to discriminate, such as sorting job candidates by ethnic enclaves and ZIP codes. Racial discrimination accounted for 27,238 charges, or 36 percent of the EEOC's private-sector caseload, in fiscal 2006. But a study by Seyfarth Shaw of 407 court rulings in 2006 showed that wage and hour suits were more likely to be certified for class-action status than were discrimination cases. Payroll discrepancies generally allow for more straightforward adjudication, according to Gerald Maatman Jr., a lawyer with the firm.
