On June 12, 1995, seventeen black employees of the Aluminum Company of America ("Alcoa") filed a class-action lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e, et seq.) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa (Davenport). The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, sought injunctive and other forms of relief for alleged discrimination on behalf of all black employees or applicants for employment at the Davenport Works branch of Alcoa between January 1, 1972 and May 12, 1997. Specifically, the plaintiffs raised disparate impact issues, alleging that Alcoa discriminated against them with respect to hiring, promotions, assignments, training, and other terms of employment based upon their gender and race.

On September 11, 1997, the Court (Magistrate Judge Celeste F. Bremer) issued an Order and Final Judgment Approving Settlement. In the settlement, Alcoa agreed to pay $212,000 to the class members, to be distributed at the class counsel's discretion. In addition, Alcoa agreed (1) to correct hiring procedures determined to have a disparate impact on black employees which were not validated; (2) to create the "Equal Access Committee," which was to review and sign off on all discharges of black employees; (3) to implement a more strict racial harassment policy; (4) to expand its diversity and racial tolerance training; (4) to make test scores available to all test takers upon request; and (5) in terms of promotion, to interview all black applicants in the department where the vacancy arises for all areas in which Davenport is underutilized.

The settlement's duration was six years from the date of approval by the Court, although on September 17, 2003, the Court granted the plaintiffs' motion to extend court jurisdiction over the settlement through October 31, 2003.

Jordan Rossen - 07/17/2010


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