FedEx Express Employees Racial Discrimination Class Action
Introduction
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, with co-counsel, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of FedEx Western Region African American and Latino hourly employees and African American Operations Managers. The Western Region of FedEx Express consists of employees in the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and part of Texas.
Plaintiffs' Allegations
Plaintiffs -- African American and Latino hourly employees, and African American Operations Managers at FedEx Express -- alleged the company engaged in racial discrimination in violation of Federal and California law. Specifically, plaintiffs charged that FedEx Express discriminated against class members by treating them worse than similarly-situated white employees in:
- promotion, including the requirement of passing the Basic Skills Test ("BST");
- compensation;
- performance evaluation; and
- discipline.
The lawsuit, entitled Satchell, et al. v. FedEx Express, was filed in 2003 in United States District Court in San Francisco, California. On September 27, 2005, the court certified two classes of minority employees. The first class consisted of all African American and Latino hourly Handlers, Couriers, Shuttle Drivers, Customer Service Agents, Cargo Handlers, Ramp Agents, Equipment Operators, and Ramp Transit Drivers working in FedEx's Western Region at any point from October 17, 1999 until the date of judgment in the case.
The second class consisted of all African American Operations Managers and other managers below the level of Senior Manager working in FedEx's Western Region at any point from October 17, 1999 until the date of judgment in the case. Among the relief plaintiffs sought was back pay, front pay, compensatory damages for emotional distress, and damages for lost compensation and job benefits that they would have received but for the alleged discriminatory practices.
Trial
The case was scheduled to go to trial in San Francisco before Judge Susan Illston on April 2, 2007.
Settlement
In 2007, the court approved a $54.9 million settlement of the race discrimination class action lawsuit by African American and Latino employees of FedEx Express. The settlement requires FedEx to reform its promotion, discipline, and pay practices.
Under the settlement, FedEx will implement multiple steps to promote equal employment opportunities, including making its performance evaluation process less discretionary, discarding use of the "Basic Skills Test" as a prerequisite to promotion into certain desirable positions, and changing employment policies to demonstrate that its revised practices do not continue to foster racial discrimination.
The settlement, covering 20,000 hourly employees and operations managers who have worked in the western region of FedEx Express since October 1999, was approved by the Court in August 2007.
Trademark Notice
FedEx Express is a registered trademark and/or servicemark of FedEx Corporation. This mark is used for identifying the company as the defendant in the lawsuit and providing information to persons interested in learning more about the litigation. Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, the sponsor of this website, is in no way affiliated with FedEx Express or FedEx Corporation.
About Lieff Cabraser
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is a 50-plus attorney law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. Our firm is committed to protecting the rights of employees nationwide to equitable treatment and fair wages. Lieff Cabraser employment attorneys have represented thousands of employees seeking to vindicate their rights in cases involving gender and race discrimination, overtime pay and wage and hour violations, and the mishandling of funds in pension and 401k plans.
We served as counsel in a class action suit against Abercrombie & Fitch, which led to a novel, precedent-setting settlement in 2005. The settlement required the retail clothing giant to pay $40 million to Latino, African-American, Asian-American and female applicants and employees who charged the company with discrimination. In addition, Abercrombie was required to promote diversity among its workforce and to prevent discrimination based on race or gender.
We served as class counsel for approximately 25,000 female employees of,
and applicants for employment with, Home Depot. In 1998, the Court approved
a settlement of the case in which Home Depot agreed to modify its hiring,
promotion and compensation practices, and paid $87.5 million, one of the highest
amounts ever paid in a gender discrimination case.
Lieff Cabraser has obtained lost wages and benefits for employees in overtime pay lawsuits, including the successful representation of employees of Denny's, Carrow's, the advertising firm TMP Worldwide, the California State Automobile Association, as well as several corporations in the computer industry including IBM and Computer Sciences Corporation.
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