In May 2003, the Charlotte District Office of the EEOC filed this suit against Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., d/b/a Midwest Coca-Cola Bottling Co., in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. We do not have a copy of the complaint. However, according to the settlement agreement, the complaint alleged that the defendant discriminated against the charging party, a female African American applicant, by refusing to hire her for a merchandiser position on the basis of her race and sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The charging party intervened in the suit in July 2003. After some discovery disputes, the EEOC and the defendant settled in July 2004. This settlement agreement did not resolve any of the charging party's claims against the defendant. Thus, the defendant filed a motion for summary judgment against the charging party in September 2004. The motion was granted in January 2005. Therefore, the defendant prevailed, and the charging party received no relief separate from the EEOC consent decree.

The settlement agreement between the EEOC and the defendant required the defendant to certify that it would continue to provide EEO training for all of its human resource, supervisory, and managerial personnel and that it would maintain and distribute its anti-discrimination policy. In addition, the defendant agreed to maintain records of those who applied for any open merchandiser position and the results of their employment screening. The defendant also agreed to continue to advertise job openings in several media outlets targeted at minorities.

Michele Marxkors - 06/12/2007


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