Human Resource Blog

Job Assignments in Arkansas

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Arkansas company has the policy of assigning Asian store managers only to stores in predominantly Asian neighborhoods. Is this discrimination, or common sense?

While it may on the surface seem like common sense, it is discrimination according to the law. The law is the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, which prohibits discrimination in hiring and promotion based on color, race, national origin, religion, or sex. There is a state law that makes this illegal, as well.

To management it may seem that an Asian-American manager would relate better to customers in a neighborhood that is primarily Asian, but the law says it is discrimination, and a recent lawsuit appears to bear that out.

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

There is another guarantee of job equality called Executive Order 11245, which applies to the contractors or sub-contractors working on federal projects. This order also requires affirmative action.

A group of black pharmacists and managers for Walgreen’s argued this through a lawsuit brought against the nation’s largest chain of drugstores by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC.

The EEOC’s lawsuit argued that the black managers and pharmacists, as a result, were assigned to underperforming stores, which limited their earning potential, including promotions and bonuses. It also limited their opportunities in general compared to people of other races in Walgreen.

Walgreen chose to settle out of court for $20 million, and the award was split nationwide among roughly 10,000 Walgreen employees, both current and former. While the EEOC brought its complaints on behalf of managers and pharmacists in stores in Detroit, Kansas City,

St. Louis, and

Tampa, the case expanded into a class action suit, which went national.

The drugstore chain decided on settling out of court rather than admitting wrongdoing or becoming involved in a lengthy and expensive trial. Other companies would do well to learn from Walgreen’s expensive mistake.