On May 27, 1992, a group of female and Hispanic employees filed a lawsuit under the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1866, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, and the Equal Pay Act against Albertson's Inc. in the Northern California District Court. The plaintiffs, represented by private and public-interest counsel, asked the court for injunctive and declaratory relief, claiming that Albertson's engaged in broad-based sex and national origin (Hispanic) discrimination in employment. Besides seeking injunctive relief, plaintiffs also sought an award of back pay, front pay, benefits, compensatory and punitive damages.

Specifically, the plaintiff claimed that Albertson's had discriminated against all female and Hispanic employees with respect to job assignments, compensation, promotions, hours allocation, training, assignment to full-time status, work scheduling, and terms, conditions or privileges of employment, among other issues.

On May 16, 2000, the parties entered into a consent decree wherein Albertson's agreed to implement injunctive relief with for all class members, to promote the utilization of female and Hispanic employees in Albertson's retail stores, and to further promote equal employment opportunities for female and Hispanic employees. Besides agreeing to implement far-reaching injunctive relief, Albertson's agreed to pay $24.5 million to the class. The class is defined as all females employed on or after April 5, 1987, and all Hispanics employed on or after March 19, 1989, who are, have been, or will be employed during the term of the consent decree by Albertson's in its retail stores in California. This excludes the employees of the Meat, Bakery Production and Pharmacy Departments of Albertson's.



On October 5, 1994, the Court (Judge Saundra B. Armstrong) approved the consent decree.

Jenna Chai - 08/04/2010


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