The Chicago and Minneapolis offices of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought this suit against Sara Lee Corporation, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota on September 26, 2006. The case was assigned to Judge Lawrence Piersol. The complaint, brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, alleged that the Corporation had engaged in racial discrimination against employees. More specifically, the complaint alleged that the defendant discriminated against three black former Sara Lee employees by failing to promote them because of their race. The EEOC sought injunctive and monetary relief for the claimants.

The claimants subsequently filed complaints as intervenor plaintiffs on December 12, 2006. In addition to the claims included in the EEOC complaint, the intervenor complaint alleged that the defendant retaliated against the claimants for complaining about the discrimination, the defendant created a hostile work environment, and the defendant constructively discharged the claimants. The intervenor complaint also made claims under South Dakota law. Neither the EEOC nor Sara Lee objected to the intervention, and the court granted intervention on February 6, 2007.

On June 29, 2007, the EEOC filed an amended complaint, removing all reference to one of the intervenor plaintiffs because it decided that using public resources to recover this plaintiff’s victim-specific relief would be inappropriate.

On November 25, 2008, the parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a proposed consent decree. Six days later, the court approved the consent decree. The consent decree required Sara Lee to provide African-American employees with the same training and conditions of employment as all its other employees and enjoined Sara Lee from retaliating against employees for asserting their Title VII rights. Sara Lee also had to reform its internal complaint procedures and hiring/promotion procedures, as well as provide anti-discrimination training sessions to its managers and supervisors. To ensure compliance, Sara Lee had to report back to the EEOC annually with a certification of compliance, as well as notify the EEOC of any complaints of race discrimination or retaliation. Additionally, Sara Lee agreed to pay $245,000 in damages, to be distributed among the three claimants. The duration of the consent decree was two years, during which the court retained jurisdiction to enforce its terms.

On December 8, 2008, the court dismissed this case with prejudice. The order of dismissal is the final entry in the docket; there is nothing to suggest noncompliance with the consent decree. So, the case presumably closed in December 2010 with the expiration of the consent decree.

Justin Kanter - 06/02/2008
Rebecca Strauss - 07/02/2018


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