Black employees at a Georgia General Mills plant recently filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer, citing rampant racism in the workplace.
Filed on June 2, according to eight employees who have decided to join in on the lawsuit, managers at the Covington plant in Georgia were biased and tended to favor white employees for promotions.
Naming themselves the “Good Ole Boy,” the white managers were reportedly purveyors of racism and discrimination in the plant for decades spanning from the 1980s.
According to the lawsuit, instances included displaying a mural of Confederate leaders modeled with General Mills mascots at the company for close to two decades. Employees were also called by racist terms with one worker sharing that “KKK” was scratched into his lunchbox; the managers subsequently made him submit his own handwriting to prove he had not etched it himself.
Throughout the two decades of racial abuse, the employees said they’ve highlighted the discrimination to General Mills’ HR department to no avail.
“HR routinely informs racist White supervisors about the content of complaints against them along with the identity of the Black employees who made the complaint,” said the employees per their complaint according to CBS News. “This frequently results in retaliation against Black employees.”
The announcement of the lawsuit comes days after Wall Street brokerage firm Merrill Lynch agreed to pay approximately $20 million to Black financial advisers after being accused of discrimination.
According to the lawsuit, Black advisers were given less money and promotions when compared to white advisers. They were also fired at higher rates than white employees and were not as often given senior roles.
Brought forth by four employees, the case also claims that these lower rates of promotion were perpetrated by Merrill Lynch’s discriminatory practices, citing less support and unequal opportunities as contributors.
With the latest settlement, the company will need to pay $19.95 million to approximately 1,375 class members who are eligible to receive compensation.
The company has also agreed to provide “programmatic relief,” looking into their pay equity and diversity statistics as well as reviewing current and past DEI programs.
Currently, although they agreed to pay the nearly $20 million settlement, Merrill Lynch continues to deny any wrongdoings on their part as part of the deal.
The new settlement agreement comes approximately 11 years after Merrill Lynch agreed to pay $160 million to approximately 1,200 Black financial advisers who also highlighted discriminatory practices such as less pay.
