In September 2003, the Chicago Office of the EEOC filed this lawsuit against FPM Ipsen Heat, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging discrimination on the basis of national origin in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the complaint alleged that defendant subjected the ten charging parties, Mexican employees, to disparate treatment including assigning them harder and more dangerous labor, denying them breaks and access to proper safety equipment, and retaliating in response to complaints about the disparate treatment, leading to constructive or retaliatory discharges of several workers. The claimants intervened in the lawsuit in November 2003. Following a series of settlement conferences, the parties settled the lawsuit in November 2004 through a consent decree.

The one-year decree, containing non-discrimination and non-retaliation clauses, required the defendant to: reinstate certain complainants, post and distribute notice of employee rights, provide EEO training, revise defendant's current policies against discrimination, maintain and make available records of complaints regarding national origin discrimination to the EEOC, pay $20,000 to be distributed among 10 claimants and $10,000 for claimants' legal expenses.

Daisy Manning - 10/22/2007


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