Firm tried to avoid race bias — and was sued for race bias
Here’s the latest case to be filed in the “Employers Can’t Win” department.
Edward B. Stimpson, Co., needed to lay off 30% of its workforce in a reduction in force.
Department heads made recommendations to upper management on which employees should be terminated. A company VP then put together a spreadsheet of all the people recommended to be fired.
In addition to including info in the spreadsheet such as “department” and “job classification,” the VP also added things like “gender,” “age,” “years of service” and “race.” Finally, the document also contained the percentage of employees of each category to be included in the RIF.
After reviewing the spreadsheet, the company altered three original termination decisions. One of the people who wasn’t spared was Elzie Fuller III, who is black and had worked at the company for 39 years. Though the reason given for his termination was his attendance record (which was the worst among the people considered for termination), Fuller sued, claiming race bias.
Spreadsheet from hell
Surely the court acknowledged that the company was doing its best to prevent race bias, right? The company even said the reason for the spreadsheet was so no particular racial group would be affected more than another.
Nope — the court ruled in favor of the employee.
How? The court said that it was clear through the use of the spreadsheet that race was used as a factor in the RIF decision. Was considering race in the RIF legal? The court left that up to a jury to decide.
In addition, Fuller’s termination had some holes. Yes, his attendance record was poor. But he also was one of the most senior employees in the company. And with “years of service” being taken into account on the devilish spreadsheet in addition to race, the court said there were questions that a jury needed to answer.
Kathryn J. Hinton, writing for Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, had this to say about the case:
Employers should pay attention to this case when going through a reduction in force. Be wary of the use of spreadsheets or similar tools that make it very easy to categorize employees by race or other protected categories in making termination decisions. As this case makes clear, any employer that uses tools reflecting that a protected category was a factor in making employment-related decisions is risking liability. While a jury may still find Stimpson utilized the spreadsheet appropriately, the company must now go through the substantial cost of trial to obtain a verdict in its favor. This is not a cost any company wants to face.
The case is Fuller v. Edward B. Stimpson Co.
Resources
Post Your Resume to 65+ Job Sites
Resume Service
