The EEOC Secures Approval Of $11 Million Consent Decree In Its Largest Settlement Of 2012

The EEOC secured approval of its largest settlement in 2012 this past week in EEOC v. Yellow Transportation, Inc. and YRC, Inc., No. 09-7693 (N.D. Ill. June 28, 2012), a pattern or practice lawsuit involving allegations of systemic race discrimination. Approved by Magistrate Judge Susan E. Cox of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the consent decree resolved two lawsuits (including a private plaintiff class action brought by 14 workers who also intervened in the EEOC's lawsuit) that had been consolidated for purposes of settlement negotiations. The EEOC and a class of African-American workers employed by Yellow Transportation, Inc. and YRC, Inc. alleged that the companies discriminated against employees at their Chicago Ridge facility because of their race, and subjected them to a racially hostile work environment. The EEOC asserted that the workers were subjected to multiple incidents of hangman’s nooses and racist graffiti, comments, and cartoons. The EEOC also claimed that Yellow Transportation and YRC subjected African-American employees to harsher discipline and scrutiny than their white counterparts and gave them more difficult and time-consuming work assignments.

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