News Article

Suits Put Spotlight On Workplace Diversity

USA Today

Published: January 09, 2001

When Cyrus Mehri decided to take on Coca-Cola, he spent months scouting for another law firm to join in his David vs. Goliath battle.

The Washington lawyer went to six major firms in cities such as Atlanta and New York, hoping they would help him represent African-American employees who claimed the cola giant had discriminated against them. No one, he says, wanted in.

"They wouldn't dare touch it," Mehri says. "They'd say, 'Suing Coke in Atlanta is like suing the Pope in the Vatican. ' "

They may be regretting it now. Coca-Cola decided in November to settle the case for $192.5 million…Under the agreement, class members will divide $92.4 million, based on service, for compensatory damages, back pay and promotion achievement awards. Coca-Cola also will allocate an estimated $43.5 million to pay equity adjustments and invest $36 million in diversity reform programs.

To plaintiffs and their lawyers, the legal victories are a sign that minorities are wielding unprecedented clout as they use the courts to accomplish change.

Racial-harassment charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have mushroomed from about 10,000 in the 1980s to nearly 50,000 in the 1990s. Civil-rights complaints in U.S. district courts more than doubled between 1990 and 1998, in an increase that the Justice Department attributes primarily to more employment-related cases.

"People are starting to speak up more, especially African-Americans," says Linda Ingram of Marietta, Ga. , a former senior information analyst at Coca-Cola who was part of the class-action lawsuit. "It's a wake-up call. "