UPS to Pay $12 Million in Bias Suit Settlement

United Parcel Service of America Inc., the world’s largest package-delivery service, agreed to pay $12.4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that claimed black employees received fewer promotional opportunities and were channeled to less desirable jobs than their white counterparts.

About 12,000 current and former part-time employees in UPS’ Pacific and Northwest regions will share $8.2 million, according to James Finberg, the employees’ San Francisco-based attorney.

More than half of these employees are from California, and several thousand are from the Los Angeles area, Finberg said.

The agreement, filed Friday, includes attorney’s fees and expenses.

Atlanta-based UPS also agreed to monitor promotion of black workers to part-time supervisors and drivers; to better inform part-time employees of job opportunities; and to keep track of preferences made on job applications for schedules, jobs and sites. The closely held company also will establish a toll-free number for race-based complaints and continue training managers about racial harassment as part of the settlement, which requires court approval.

The lawsuit claimed that a disproportionate number of whites were promoted to higher-paying driver or supervisor jobs.

The part-time employees who sued were paid an hourly wage and typically earned less than $12,000 a year, Finberg said.

Finberg said a “tap-on-the-shoulder” method of promoting, in which friends told one another about job openings, caused the disproportionate promotions.

“The real heart of this case . . . was a stated concern that we do more to make sure African American part-timers knew and understood their options and how the policies work,” UPS spokesman Norman Black said. “We have always tried to be clear as to how our advancement and promotional policies work. We weren’t in this case. We sincerely regret that and we apologize for that.”