FedEx discrimination suit moves ahead
Class action covers 10,000 minority employees

Thursday, September 29, 2005; Posted: 7:11 a.m. EDT (11:11 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A federal judge has certified a class action lawsuit alleging that FedEx Corp. discriminated against minority workers.

The suit was filed in 2003 by eight current and former employees. It seeks millions of dollars in damages and an end to the company's alleged discriminatory practices.

The class action case, certified Wednesday, includes an estimated 10,000 current and former hourly workers and about 1,000 low-level management employees in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and parts of Texas.

The suit contends the delivery service paid thousands of current and former minority employees less than their white counterparts, passed over them for promotions and gave minorities poor work evaluations.

James Finberg, an attorney representing the class, said FedEx normally promotes from within, yet three times the number of package handlers and loaders are minorities compared to drivers, who earn more. Twice the number of minorities fail promotional tests than do whites, Finberg added.

"FedEx knows that black and Hispanics fail at a much higher rate, but yet has not changed the test," Finberg said.

Jim McCluskey, a FedEx spokesman, said the Memphis, Tennessee-based company was considering appealing the ruling.

"We are confident that when the merits of the case are considered, it will be shown that the plaintiffs were not treated differently because of their race or ethnicity," McCluskey said.

In court documents, FedEx contended that promotions were based on "objective" factors, not race, that include time of service, passing a basic skills test, previous performance evaluations and whether the employee has been disciplined.

FedEx's statistical analysis shows that minorities receive higher evaluations on average than whites in many job categories, and showed that minorities received higher wages than whites in many jobs.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said it would be up to a jury to decide. No trial date has been set.

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I have my own lawsuit pending against the NBA. They know that white guys can't jump as well as other racial groups and they still haven't lowered the rim.

I work for them and have heard absolutely nothing about this.

BTW, shitty company.