Missouri residents may be interested in a racial discrimination case involving Bank of America. In accordance with a ruling by the Department of Labor, the bank must pay approximately $2.2 million in restitution for charges of employment discrimination. The restitution will go to 1,147 African-American job seekers whose applications were rejected. Bank of America has also been ordered to hire 10 of the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit as appropriate jobs become available.
According to findings from routine compliance reviews conducted by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Bank of America unfairly discriminated against black job applicants in 1993. Although an administrative complaint was filed against the bank in 1997, the bank managed to stall any hiring practice changes following the 1993 review for nearly 20 years.
After reviewing the information from the reviews, a judge ruled that the hiring process for entry-level clerical, teller and administrative positions led to the rejection of job applicants based on the color of their skin. The class action lawsuit included 1,034 applicants who were unfairly discriminated against in 1993 and 113 applicants from 2002 to 2005.
Holding institutions accountable for racial discrimination may help to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future. In addition, job applicants who suffered financial hardship after being discriminated against may seek compensation for their financial losses. Cases like this can often take a long time to reach a ruling; an employment law attorney could work to uncover evidence to expedite the process.
Source: USA Today, “BofA fined $2.2M in racial discrimination case“, Derry London, September 25, 2013
