Promotion Policy of FedEx Is Investigated

FedEx Corp. is being investigated for an alleged pattern of discrimination against blacks and Latinos, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Monday.

The company requires that employees pass a cognitive abilities test for promotion from entry-level jobs, according to an employee complaint the EEOC said it was investigating. The test has an adverse effect on black and Latino workers and is therefore discriminatory, the complaint claimed.

FedEx ignored an EEOC subpoena for information related to its investigation, including types of computerized or machine-readable files the company keeps regarding personnel decisions, the EEOC said. The agency asked a federal judge in Arizona to order compliance.

“It is unusual for an employer to try to stonewall the EEOC at such an early stage in our investigation,” Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix office, said in a statement. “We are hopeful that the court will order this employer to comply with the EEOC subpoena.”

The parcel delivery company agreed in October to pay $500,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit on behalf of 20 black employees who say they were denied promotions because of their race. In 2004, FedEx was ordered to pay $1.57 million in another EEOC suit for retaliating against a white manager who tried to promote minority workers.

FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said the company had “fully cooperated” in the investigation: “The law is clear that once the EEOC issues a right to sue to the complainant, the investigation is closed and they can no longer subpoena more information from the company.”

Shares of Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx fell $3.39 on Monday to $107.74.

The EEOC is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the nation’s laws prohibiting discrimination in employment.