OFCCP Announces Goodyear Will Pay to Settle Hiring Bias Lawsuit

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that an administrative law judge approved a consent decree with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. that will resolve a lawsuit alleging the company discriminated against some 800 female job applicants at the company’s Danville, Virginia tire manufacturing plant in 1998 and 1999.

OFCCP filed an administrative complaint with the Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges in June 2006. The complaint alleged that Goodyear discriminated against females who applied for entry-level operative and laborer positions at the tire plant from January 1998 through June 1999. An OFCCP compliance review initiated by the agency’s office in Richmond, Virginia discovered the company utilized a hiring process and selection procedures that discriminated against female applicants for entry-level positions on the basis of gender.

The company, which has reportedly said it did not believe that its past hiring practices were discriminatory, agreed to the following action in the consent decree:

• Pay $925,000 in back wages and interest to a class of approximately 800 women who were rejected for entry-level operative and laborer positions at Goodyear’s Danville plant from January 1998 through June 1999;

• Hire 60 women from the class subject to their meeting the requirements of new selection procedures for entry-level jobs at the plant;

• Conduct annual EEO/AA training for managers at the Danville plant;

• Provide OFCCP semi-annual reports over at least two years to document compliance with the consent decree; and,

• Report on any adverse impact that its new selection procedures have on female applicants for entry-level jobs.

Implications for DCI Clients:
OFCCP is serious about its initiatives to eliminate systemic discrimination. Federal contractors must “do their homework” and take important proactive steps to comply with their affirmative action obligations and eliminate such practices. Charles E. James Sr., deputy assistant secretary for OFCCP, says this consent decree is a signal to federal contractors that the agency is serious about eliminating systemic discrimination.