In February 1998, the Dallas District Office of the EEOC filed this suit against The Kroger Co. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 745 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. We do not have a copy of the complaint. However, according to the consent decree, the complaint alleged that the defendant violated the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") by requiring all employment applicants to fill out medical questionnaires and undergo medical tests before they were offered employment. In addition, the defendant allegedly violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA") by using physical tests that had a disparate impact on older applicants. Specifically, the defendant used a physical abilities test to evaluate applicants that used age as a factor in the scoring. A charging party intervened in the suit in March 1998. After some scheduling orders and discovery, the charging party's complaint was voluntarily dismissed in June 1999. The EEOC and the defendant then settled their claims in August 1999 through a consent decree.

The one-year decree required the defendant to provide applicants who have met all other job requirements with a written statement that they have been conditionally offered a job dependent on the results of a physical abilities test, drug screening, and physical exam. In addition, the defendant was required to investigate alternative physical abilities tests that did not use age in the evaluation formula and to pay $240,000 to the complainants named in the EEOC's complaint.

Kevin Wilemon - 06/19/2007


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