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Thursday, September 29, 2005

FedEx Sued For Not Lowering Bar For Minorities

FedEx is getting sued for allegedly favoring non-minority employees for promotions and raises.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A federal judge has certified a class action lawsuit alleging that FedEx Corp. discriminated against minority workers.

The suit was filed in 2003 by eight current and former employees. It seeks millions of dollars in damages and an end to the company's alleged discriminatory practices.

The class action case, certified Wednesday, includes an estimated 10,000 current and former hourly workers and about 1,000 low-level management employees in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and parts of Texas.

The suit contends the delivery service paid thousands of current and former minority employees less than their white counterparts, passed over them for promotions and gave minorities poor work evaluations.


Here's an interesting tid-bit from the plaintiffs' attorney:

James Finberg, an attorney representing the class, said FedEx normally promotes from within, yet three times the number of package handlers and loaders are minorities compared to drivers, who earn more. Twice the number of minorities fail promotional tests than do whites, Finberg added.

"FedEx knows that black and Hispanics fail at a much higher rate, but yet has not changed the test," Finberg said.


Damn FedEx for not lowering their employee standards for the sake of equality!

Seriously though, if FedEx has displayed demonstrable tendencies toward favoring one race over another then they deserve to be punished. That being said, from what I can see in this particular article this lawsuit has to do with FedEx not lowering its standards. Which is, of course, unfair to the employees who do meet the standards and earn raises and promotions.

After all, employment decisions made on merit can never be racist. If minority employees are, for whatever reason, deficient as a group when compared to non-minority employees FedEx can hardly be blamed for that. Its more indicative of a larger societal problem than any sort of corporate bias.

Comments

Avatar for Tom_with_a_Dream

As always, well said.

I despise Affirmative Action.  It has not been proven to work, even after all there years…

Tom_with_a_Dream on September 30, 2005 at 04:10 am
Avatar for Seth Yantiss

The horror of this is that the case, clearly, has a chance of winning.  Affirmative Action fails, folks!  Face it.  Affirmative Action is RACIST!  Affirmative Action forces businesses to lower standards for ‘specific’ races, thereby raising standards for other specific races… thus… Racist.

Where’s Don? 

Don?  TCF?  WOOF?

Seth Yantiss on September 30, 2005 at 05:10 am
Avatar for caseydk

Personally, I think that people should be judged on the content of their character instead of the color of their skin.

caseydk on September 30, 2005 at 06:09 am
Avatar for Dave

“FedEx knows that black and Hispanics fail at a much higher rate, but yet has not changed the test,”

The high school basketball coach knows that I can’t dunk, but he has not yet lowered the rim. That’s no fair!!! I wanna sue!
Dave on September 30, 2005 at 06:10 am
Avatar for Tom_with_a_Dream

I’m with you, Dave.  Twice!

Long live the non-dunking, non-Gravatars.

Tom_with_a_Dream on September 30, 2005 at 06:10 am
Avatar for Dave

Btw, what happened to my gravatar?

Dave on September 30, 2005 at 06:10 am
Avatar for Dave

Personally, I think that people should be judged on the content of their character instead of the color of their skin.

What a radical concept!

Dave on September 30, 2005 at 08:10 am
Avatar for Sphagnum

The gravatar website is having problems, Dave.  Everyone’s Gravatar is down, the only ones you see is the “Question Mark” one (that is hosted on Rob’s site) and ones that your browser has cached…

Sphagnum on September 30, 2005 at 08:10 am
Avatar for JFH

Where’s Don?

Don? TCF? WOOF?

The next thing y’all will be saying is, “Let’s unban Jadegold!"[shudder]

JFH on September 30, 2005 at 10:09 am
Avatar for LoadTheMule

Where’s Don?

Don? TCF? WOOF?

Need you ask? *lmbo*

Regards…

LoadTheMule on September 30, 2005 at 10:10 am
Avatar for Sluggo

This is a perfect example of ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’.  This lawsuit basically says that minorities are not as smart as whites, therefore they need to be coddled and treated like they are inferior.

How ironic.

Sluggo on September 30, 2005 at 03:10 pm
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I’d like an example of how a written test could contain ethnic bias.


The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is… legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay … If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

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Rob on October 1, 2005 at 10:10 am
Avatar for Dave

This is a perfect example of ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’. This lawsuit basically says that minorities are not as smart as whites, therefore they need to be coddled and treated like they are inferior.

Not necessarily. It sounds more like they’re alleging the test contains ethnic biases.

Dave on October 1, 2005 at 10:11 am
Avatar for Dave

I could be wrong (it happens often enough…) but it seems to me that the color (pun not intended) of Dave’s spots have changed.

From what to what?

Dave on October 1, 2005 at 11:11 am
Avatar for Tom_with_a_Dream

I could be wrong (it happens often enough...) but it seems to me that the color (pun not intended) of Dave’s spots have changed.

Regardless, this incident is symptomatic of what is wrong with the world today.  It is no longer sufficient for the business to create a test using the required skill-sets for the job.  Instead, the business has to create a safe test that won’t offend anyone, as if that were even possible, and risk not actually testing the candidates for those required skills. 

And this safe test always costs more, takes longer, and, as I stated, results in a poor employee fit.  This means the product being made or moved by the employee is going to cost more. 

The same (or perhaps only similar) concept applies to the malpractive and lawsuit world.  These few whiners cause the rest of us to pay a premium for those services. 

Irritating!

Tom_with_a_Dream on October 1, 2005 at 11:11 am
Avatar for Sluggo

To allege ethnic bias, one has to assumes that people of certain ethnicities are intellectually inferior and somehow different than the rest of humanity.  Therefore, because their ethnic group is not as smart, they need a test which is easier.  The condescension is disgusting.

Sluggo on October 1, 2005 at 02:11 pm
Avatar for Tom_with_a_Dream

Dave-
Early in the comments you seemed to be pointing out the stupidity of the minorities case:

The high school basketball coach knows that I can’t dunk, but he has not yet lowered the rim. That’s no fair!!! I wanna sue!

Then you re-appeared and were defending them:

It sounds more like they’re alleging the test contains ethnic biases.

Again, I could be wrong…

Sluggo-
Wasn’t it the minorities who are alleging they need aneasier test?  It isn’t the “whites” who are claiming they are stupid, only that they failed to pass the same test. 

By asking them to take the same test seems to me to indicate that they (the whites) believe the minorities are equal and should be given the same test.
Did I miss something?

Tom_with_a_Dream on October 1, 2005 at 05:11 pm
Avatar for Sluggo

Tom,

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. 

I was saying that the lawyers and minorities, who are suing Fed-Ex, make assumptions that minorities are inherently inferior.  The ones, who have been telling minorities that they ‘can’t’ do anything without their help, are white, liberal elites.  These are the same ones who say they are ‘for’ minorities, yet they see minorities as ‘inferior’. 

Also, I bet that the lawyers for the plaintiffs are white.

Sluggo on October 1, 2005 at 09:11 pm
Avatar for Dave

It does sound like they’re alleging the test contains ethnic biases; that’s how I interpret it. I just think you’re wrong.

It is interesting that you took my comment as an indication that my views had changed. Someone made a ridiculous comment ("This lawsuit basically says that minorities are not as smart as whites, therefore they need to be coddled and treated like they are inferior."), and I corrected it. That’s what we should do when we encounter this stuff.

Acknowledging that there IS another side, and they DO have good, (but flawed), arguments, is a virtue. Endless bashing of the opposition, while amusing, doesn’t really accomplish much in the end.

Dave on October 1, 2005 at 09:11 pm
Avatar for Dave

I wrote:

It does sound like they’re alleging the test contains ethnic biases; that’s how I interpret it. I just think you’re wrong.

That last sentence should be:  “I just think THEY’RE wrong.”
Dave on October 1, 2005 at 10:11 pm
Avatar for Seth Williams

Dave, every time I start to lose hope for you, you plunk something smart down on the table:

Endless bashing of the opposition, while amusing, doesn’t really accomplish much in the end.

I couldn’t agree more.

Seth Williams on October 1, 2005 at 10:11 pm
Rob
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Well, I’m not sure how anybody could have “good but flawed” arguments (seems to me that good arguments aren’t flawed) but otherwise I agree with Seth.


The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is… legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay … If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

robport.gif border=0

Rob on October 1, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Avatar for Tom_with_a_Dream

Ditto to Seth and Dave (on the “endless bashing” point) and to Rob (on the “good but flawed” catch and “ethically biased test” points).

As best as I can figure it, I see that Dave agrees with Rob that an ethically biased test is impossible.  Good enough.

Tom_with_a_Dream on October 2, 2005 at 04:10 pm
Avatar for Former Naval Person

[...] Rob, at Say Anything blog, on the FedEx discrimination suit  This story had not surfaced in my usual haunts, but Rob, writing at the Say Anything blog, tells about the class action suit against FedEx. Rob says that FedEx is being sued for not lowering their standards: [...]

Former Naval Person on October 25, 2005 at 08:10 pm
Avatar for Former Naval Person

[...] Rob, at Say Anything blog, on the FedEx discrimination suit  This story had not surfaced in my usual haunts, but Rob, writing at the Say Anything blog, tells about the class action suit against FedEx. Rob says that FedEx is being sued for not lowering their standards: [...]

Former Naval Person on October 25, 2005 at 08:10 pm
Avatar for women

"Diversity” is just a buzz word for many companies. Sad.

women on November 14, 2005 at 10:12 am
Avatar for Dreaming Big Dreams: Economy

[...] Thanks to Rob at SayAnything. [...]

Dreaming Big Dreams: Economy on January 14, 2006 at 01:02 am
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