The State : Lucky Settles Bias Suit

Lucky Stores Inc., California’s second-largest supermarket chain, has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement in a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by three women who said they were denied jobs as warehouse workers and truck drivers. The chain will set up a $3-million compensation fund and a 10-year quota program that will reserve up to 30% of new blue-collar jobs for women. The three Northern California women who brought the suit will share $100,000 in damages. Their attorney said that between 3,000 and 4,000 women who were turned down or discouraged from applying for jobs at the chain’s warehouse in San Leandro in the last five years will be eligible for compensation. Sixteen women were hired at the warehouse between 1975 and 1983, and during that time there were 3,600 openings for the jobs, which pay $30,000 to $35,000 a year, the attorney said. Lucky store officials said the chain began recruiting women warehouse workers more than 18 months ago.