Target Settles Race Discrimination Suit for over $500,000
Target has agreed to pay over $500,000 to settle a lawsuit in which four management applicants said that they were victims of racial discrimination, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The suit was settled Monday when U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa signed a consent decree, the news service reported. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had accused the Minneapolis-based retail giant Target (NYSE: TGT) of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it did not hire four black applicants in Milwaukee and Madison, then destroyed their applications in bad faith. The suit alleged that it did not keep documents as required under the law.
Under terms of the settlement, the AP said that Target would pay a total of $510,000 to four applicants that were denied jobs as assistant store managers in 2000 and 2001.
Target also agreed to revise its policies for retaining documents, and pledged to provide supervisors with training on employment discrimination and record-keeping, to report on its hiring decisions and to post a notice about the decree for employees in its stores and offices in the affected district.
The AP quoted Target as saying in a statement that "We do not believe that any member of Target engaged in discrimination. Target prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination based upon race or any other characteristic protected by law."
Previously, Randa had dismissed the case, but that decision was reversed in 2006 when the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that enough evidence was presented for the case to go to trial.
Target said it chose to settle the case because all claims of discrimination were dismissed except for those of the four applicants who alleged they were denied interviews.
