Pays Off Discrimination Suit
Fifteen individuals (five women and ten African-Americans) won their discrimination suit against Waste Management Inc. WMI agreed to pay them a total of $756,000 and to hire them. The applicants in Indiana and Illinois were as qualified or more so than males and Caucasian applicants.
The settlement came after the Department of Labor's office of contract-complaince programs pressed the cases which had been filed by the applicants. Waste Management also agreed to hire all fifteen of the applicants. Waste Management is a large federal contractor so all its jobs are covered by the discrimination laws and compliance of the Labor Dept office.
WMI as expected claims to have not agreed to the discrimination since the suit was settled out of court. Of course, we know that such a large settlement by WMI and their agreement to hire the applicants amounts to the same. Obviously WMI know it needed to settle because it would lose the suit.
Nevertheless, WMI appeared responsible when it said, "Waste Management recognizes its obligations as a federal contractor to comply with both the letter and spirit of the law."
This case again shows the deep racism that is within this company.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, May 5, 1999 and Bloomberg News online, May 3, 1999
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