Dole Settles Lawsuit Over Hiring Bias

Two Oxnard women who sued a Saticoy lemon packinghouse for sexual discrimination will share $265,000 with dozens of other current and former employees under a settlement worked out by both sides, lawyers for the women announced Tuesday.

To settle the class-action lawsuit, Dole Food Co., which owns Buenaventura Lemon Co., also agreed to revise hiring practices at the packinghouse, the lawyers said.

Under the announced settlement, still to be approved by a federal judge, women would make up at least 20% of those employed for general labor jobs. Promotions would be offered on a seniority basis.

The lawyers who announced the settlement estimated that more than 100 Ventura County women will ultimately share the $265,000 compensation. Dole officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

“We wanted to work whatever jobs we could, but we did not get the same opportunities,” said Beatriz Quezada, one of two named plaintiffs from Ventura County. “I think the settlement we reached is good. I think a lot is going to get better for us women.”

The suit alleged that Quezada, 34, and Imelda Serrato applied on two occasions to Buenaventura Lemon and were never called for an interview--only to learn later from friends that men had been hired.

“We applied for general work, but they did not even talk to us for being women,” said Serrato, 40. “Meanwhile, they were hiring men.”

Shortly after Serrato and Quezada filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, their lawyers said, the packinghouse called them back and offered them both a job. They accepted.

But Serrato and Quezada were laid off 12 days later for unspecified reasons, the lawyers said. They then decided to join a sexual discrimination lawsuit against Dole Food and its subsidiaries filed by California Rural Legal Assistance and Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a Chicago law firm.

The two groups successfully teamed up for a similar sex discrimination lawsuit against the Oxnard Lemon Co. that was settled in 1993 for $575,000 to the plaintiffs and $675,000 to the attorneys.

The suit against Dole also involved another packinghouse, Central Valley Citrus in Terra Bella, near Porterville in Central California.

Under terms of the settlement, Dole would also pay $265,000 to women who work or have applied to the Terra Bella packinghouse. And CRLA would receive $25,000 to fund any possible legal action needed to enforce terms of the settlement.

Financial compensation for CRLA’s work in the lawsuit and that of the Chicago firm has yet to be determined.

The lawsuit is still pending before U. S. District Judge Lourdes Baird in Los Angeles. Final approval of the settlement is expected to occur in the spring, the attorneys said in a statement.

“This is a wonderful victory for the women packinghouse workers,” said attorney Eileen McCarthy, of CRLA’s Oxnard bureau. “They need to be commended for standing up to (Dole). Their challenging of traditional roles will affect more than their life in the workplace. I think it’s about their place in society.”

After looking into Buenaventura Lemon, attorney Valeriano Saucedo of the Chicago firm said he found that the discriminatory practices at the packinghouse were more widespread than anticipated.

“We found out that most women who applied were not hired,” Saucedo said. “The higher-level jobs, such as mechanic and forklift driver, were always being filled by men. And there was a lot of talk by the men that the women could not do those jobs.”

Saucedo expects that most of those from Ventura County who would be compensated as a result of the suit will be women who applied to Buenaventura Lemon and were not hired because of their sex.

Quezada and Serrato will have the opportunity to go back to work for Buenaventura Lemon as soon as an opening occurs, but the two women are not sure if they are interested anymore, Saucedo said.