Federal Court Resolves $24 M EEOC Landmark Class Discrimination Suit against Walgreen

March 26

More Than 10,000 Workers to Receive Monetary Relief; Significant Injunctive Remedies Included

East St. Louis, ILL – A federal judge has finally granted final approval of the final decree that would resolve the class race discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the national drug store chain, Walgreen Co.

The $ 24-million settlement was the largest class suit ever handled by the EEOC that is expected to provide payment for some 10,000 African American workers of the company for its discriminatory acts in promotion and store assignment practices. The decree also ordered a comprehensive injunctive relief to the company to improve the alleged conditions.

The lawsuit was filed by the EEOC in May 2007 following complaints of discrimination from the company’s retail management and pharmacy employees regarding promotion, compensation, and assignment.

Two cases were filed (EEOC v. Walgreen Co., S.D. Il. 07-CV-172-GPM and Tucker v. Walgreen Co., S.D. Il. 05-CV-440-GPM) and were consolidated in April 2007 after a fairness hearing where a consent decree was issued by the court.

The monetary payments will be shared by about 10,000 African American current and former store-level management employees across the country. The decree also requires Walgreens “to retain outside consultants to review and make recommendations regarding their employment practices, including standardized, non-discriminatory promotion and store assignment standards, procedures and promotional benchmarks”.

The EEOC and the Goldstein, Demchak firm of Oakland, California will monitor compliance to the decree. The court will retain jurisdiction over the decree for five years.