DHL pays $8.7 million to settle EEOC racial discrimination lawsuit

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Delivery company DHL has agreed to pay $8.7 million to settle a class discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)



Delivery company DHL has agreed to pay $8.7 million to settle a class discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

DHL, a transportation and logistics provider, will pay the settlement to a group of 83 black employees who were discriminated against because of their race, the EEOC announced in April. The company will also be subject to the oversight of former EEOC Commissioner Leslie Silverman to monitor compliance with the consent decree.

“In this case, the EEOC did not allege that Black workers were paid less than others or denied promotions,” Gregory Gochanour, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Chicago District Office, said in the announcement. “However, segregating employees and giving them unequal work assignments based on their race is just as illegal. Such practices should not occur in any workplace. We are confident that the measures introduced by the consent decree will ensure that DHL employees are treated equally in the future.”

The lawsuit, filed in September 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that the company sent black employees on more difficult and dangerous routes than white employees. The company also assigned black drivers to routes in predominantly black neighborhoods and white drivers to deliver in predominantly white neighborhoods, according to the complaint.

“Black employees often witnessed crimes and were sometimes victims of crimes on their assigned routes,” the EEOC said in its announcement.

Black workers also had to move large, heavy packages, while white workers were tasked with sorting letters, the announcement said.

The consent decree requires the company to train its workforce on federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination and provide reports to Silverman on work assignments and racial discrimination complaints. Silverman will monitor the company for four years.