In September 2002, the Chicago District Office of the EEOC brought this lawsuit against United Fence Company and Wor-Mar, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging discrimination on the basis of race, African American, and natural origin, Hispanic, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the complaint alleged the defendants subjected the complainants, Hispanic employees, to a hostile work environment by reprimanding them for speaking Spanish and subjecting them to disparate treatment, and for failing to take corrective action in response to complaints of disparate treatment on the basis of race, African-American. Following some discovery and several status conferences, the parties settled the lawsuit in December 2003 through a consent decree.

The eighteen-month decree, containing anti-discrimination and retaliation clauses, required the defendants to: report on complaints and make compliance reports to the EEOC, keep records regarding complaints, allow the EEOC access for monitoring, stop preventing employees from speaking Spanish outside of certain circumstances, develop an anti-discrimination policy, post and distribute notice of employee rights, provide EEO training for all persons able to make hiring or disciplinary decisions, and pay $50,000 to be distributed among fourteen complainants.

Daisy Manning - 01/10/2008


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