Human Resource Blog

Store Assignments and Ethnicity in Illinois

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Can an employer legitimately consider race or ethnic group when assigning managers to stores? For example, can we assign Polish managers to stores in predominantly Polish neighborhoods?

Legally, that is discrimination.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 declared it illegal to hire or promote based on race and skin color as well as sex, religion and national origin. When you limit the chances of an employee based on race or color, it is discrimination, according to Title VII. It may seem like common sense to make the assumption that an African-American store manager will have maintain a better affinity with customers in a largely black neighborhood. But if that results in workplace practice it is discriminatory.

Title VII prohibits discrimination in many areas of the workplace. Importantly, that includes the transfer of store managers from one location to another.

The enforcement arm of the Civil Rights Act is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, otherwise known as the EEOC.

The EEOC recently brought a lawsuit against Walgreen on behalf of African-American pharmacists and managers that applies here. The managers and pharmacists argued that Walgreen, the biggest drugstore chain operation in the country, discriminated by often transferring them to stores in predominantly black neighborhoods. This, argued the EEOC on their behalf, led to their frequently being assigned to so-called “underperforming” stores. And that resulted in curtailment of their earning potential and other opportunities compared to employees who were not black.

EEOC originally brought the suit in connection with stores in St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, and Tampa. Once the case was converted to a class action suit, it went nationwide. When Walgreen settled the suit out of court, the chain paid $20 million to more than 10,000 employees, both current and former, around the country.

Walgreen chose to settle out of court rather than face a protracted and costly lawsuit.

Hiring or promotion must be based on qualified candidates without regard to skin color, according to Title VII.

The act also applies to discharge, pay, classification, referral, and job training, as well as other areas of the workplace. Title VII says it is illegal to discriminate regarding employee benefits. That refers to health insurance, discounts, time off, and the like.