Race Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit Against McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants

Settlement Providing Employment Practice Reform And $1,100,000 Reached In Race Discrimination Class Action Against McCormick & Schmick Seafood Restaurants

On April 4, 2008, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted preliminary approval to a nationwide class action settlement of the race discrimination claims of African-American restaurant-level hourly employees of McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant Inc. African American employees of the restaurant chain, including Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley, California, allege the restaurant company fails to hire qualified African Americans and instead favors white job applicants and employees in an effort to present a white image to the public. More information can be found at mccormicklawsuit.com.

The settlement calls for significant injunctive relief to reform the way the company selects, promotes, and retains African-American employees at the restaurant level throughout the country. The programmatic changes include:

Hiring benchmarks to increase the number of African Americans employed in front of the house jobs (e.g., server, bartender, host/hostess, waiter/waitress, and cocktail server).
Opening pathways for promotion by implementing a "registration of interest" program, which will inform employees about new job openings/promotion opportunities and about how to apply for such positions.
Improved race discrimination complaint procedures, to ensure that problems are addressed in a timely and responsible manner.
Monitoring and enforcement of this relief by a Diversity Monitor to ensure compliance.

In addition to the injunctive relief, McCormick & Schmick's will pay class members $1,100,000 in monetary relief to compensate them for discrimination suffered in the past. Class members are all African Americans employed by McCormick & Schmick's in front of the house or back of the house positions between May 15, 2002 and April 4, 2008.

In accordance with the settlement, notice was mailed to all class members in May 2008. The notice explains the settlement in greater detail, including information regarding how class members can receive money from the settlement fund. A copy of the notice can be read here. Every class member who wishes to receive money must submit a claim form postmarked by July 25, 2008.

Contact Plaintiff's Counsel

Employees and job applicants of McCormick & Schmick's who wish to report their experiences at the restaurants or learn more about the lawsuit should either call toll-free (866) 854-4165 or send us an email message. All information will be kept confidential as provided under the law.

Representing plaintiffs are the San Francisco offices of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the Bay Area, the Thomas A. Warren Law Offices of Tallahassee, Florida, Lewis Feinberg Renaker & Jackson, P.C., of Oakland, California, Lafayette & Kumagai of San Francisco, California, and Kingsley & Kingsley of Encino, California.

About McCormick & Schmick's

McCormick & Schmick’s operates restaurants across the United States under various names, including McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant, McCormick’s Fish House & Bar, M&S Grill, The Heathman Restaurant, Jake’s Famous Crayfish, Jake’s Grill, and Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley, California. The company employs more than 5,400 workers.

About Lieff Cabraser

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a fifty-plus attorney law firm that has represented plaintiffs nationwide since 1972. We have offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. We represent plaintiffs in class and group actions and in individual lawsuits in cases involving substantial losses. For the last six years, the National Law Journal has selected Lieff Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the nation.

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