Human Resource Blog

Race Discrimination in Alabama

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

For this Alabama company, as well as for companies in other states, the scenario being described here is discrimination.  African-American managers might possibly have a better rapport with customers in a predominantly black neighborhood, but despite this assumption, it is still illegal discrimination.

Discrimination is prohibited in promotion, hiring, pay, discharge, classification, job training, referral, plus other areas of employment.  The law making such actions illegal is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  This description would include transferring managers from one store to another.  It would also be illegal to discriminate in awarding any type of benefits to employees, such as health insurance, time off, or discounts.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces Title VII.

In a recent lawsuit, Walgreen’s, the country’s largest drugstore chain, settled with the EEOC in an out of court settlement for $20 million. 

In the suit, black managers and pharmacists made charges that they were only being promoted to positions at stores that were in predominantly black neighborhoods.  These actions limited the employees’ opportunities, particularly when compared to employees of different races.

Originally, the EEOC complaints only concerned stores that were in St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, and Tampa.  The suit, however, expanded rapidly to become a nationwide issue, and was converted to a class action suit.

Walgreen’s did not want to endure a lengthy or expensive trial, nor did they want to admit to any wrongdoing.  The subsequent award was divided among more than 10,000 former and current Walgreen’s employees throughout the country.

When companies choose to limit opportunities for employees based on their color or race, they are actually committing discrimination.  The law states that employers have to consider all qualified applicants for each position.  Then the employer must promote or hire the candidate that is the most qualified, regardless of that individual’s skin color. JH