On April 4, 1997, Plaintiffs, African American employees and applicants for employment with Publix Super Markets, Inc. filed a class action complaint Publix Super Markets in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000(e), et seq.; Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981; the Florida Human Rights Act of 1977, ("Florida HRA"); and the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992. The Plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, asked the court for monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief, claiming that Publix had maintained a pattern and practice of racial discrimination against black applicants and employees in both its retail outlets and its non-retail operations.

Specifically, Plaintiffs alleged that Publix had engaged in a policy or pattern of unlawful discrimination on the basis of race in all of its operations with respect to hiring, assignment, demotion, transfer, compensation, promotion from part-time to full-time, promotion from full-time to management, promotion within management, harassment, retaliation and discharge.

On April 17, 2000, a new class representative who had been denied promotion due to the implementation and evaluation of certain testing. During the following month, the parties began settlement negotiations. These efforts ultimately resulted in a voluntary agreement to settle this action.

On July 12, 2001, the Court (Judge James D. Whittemore) approved a Consent Decree which provided monetary relief for certain eligible Class Representatives and equitable and declaratory relief for other eligible Representatives. A particularly notable aspect of the settlement involved the establishment of a discharge review system to ensure that black associates have an opportunity to have discharges reviewed by Publix's Human Resources Department, and the option to submit claims of alleged race discrimination arising from such decisions to mediation. Beginning in July 2001, there were obligatory monthly status reports filed with the Court detailing the settlement proceedings; these status reports were issued until October 2003, when Judge Whittemore signed an order granting an unopposed motion to relieve this obligation.

Robert Routh - 07/20/2010


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