On July 28th, 2006 twelve black former employees of or applicants to the Walsh Group filed a class action complaint against the company in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The complaint alleged a variety of discriminatory practices against black employees and applicants. These included systematically laying off black employees while retaining non-black employees, refusing to hire black applicants, giving less desirable and more dangerous assignments to black employees, and fostering a hostile work environment.

The plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment, monetary damages for back pay, fees and costs, injunctive relief requiring the Walsh Group to cease its illegal practices, and orders requiring the Walsh Group to institute a selection procedure to prevent future discrimination and place the individual plaintiffs in the positions they had sought.

On March 30, 2012, Judge entered an order regarding the class certification. The plaintiffs' class certification is granted in part and denied in part. Plaintiffs sought to certify the following classes: (1) "Hostile Work Environment Class" (2) “Hire, Re-Hire and Promotion Class,” (3) “Work Hours and Compensation Class” and (4) “Layoff and Termination Class”. The court examined four classes respective against two legal standard set out in Federal Civil Procedure 23(a) and 23(b). The court concluded that it would certify the hostile work environment class and the disparate impact class, but denied other two classes for failing to satisfy the legal requirements.

On November 27th, 2012, with the agreement of both parties, the case was referred to a magistrate judge for a settlement conference. On December 12th, 2013, parties report to the court that the case has settled and the court granted the joint motion to dismiss the case.

Michael Perry - 06/25/2010
Sihang Zhang - 11/02/2016


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