In 1971, Black and Hispanic truck drivers in San Antonio, Texas, filed an employment discrimination suit against Roadway under Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging that Roadway had violated Title VII by favoring white employees for the higher paying position of road driver while non-whites were relegated to the lower paying position of city driver and the union had violated 42 U.S.C. § 1981 by agreeing with Roadway to establish and maintain a dual seniority system in the collective bargaining agreement for city and road drivers.

On November 4, 1985, the district court approved a proposed consent decree, according to which all class members received a monetary reward, and ten members retained over-the-road seniority retroactive to March 1971, and all members could transfer, without seniority, from a city driver to a road driver position.

Certain class members challenged the fairness of the consent decree and appealed. On October 17, 1986, the 5th Circuit (Per Curiam) held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in approving consent decree.

In 2004, four members of the class brought suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to enforce the consent decree and to recover back-pay and interest under its terms. However, the magistrate judge determined, and the 5th Circuit affirmed on December 19, 2006, that they were time-barred from enforcing the consent decree.

Kunyi Zhang - 06/28/2010


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