In April 1999, a class action lawsuit was filed against the Coca Cola Company by four current and former African-American employees for racial discrimination under the US Civil Rights Act. The plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and 2200 similarly situated African-American colleagues, alleged they had suffered discrimination in pay, promotions and performance evaluations. They provided statistics showing that the median salary for African American employees was about one-third less than that of whites within the company. The plaintiffs also claimed that “glass ceiling” and “glass wall” policies kept African-Americans from rising to top positions and in particular departments within the company. Few African-Americans had advanced to senior levels in the company, compared to the significant representation of African-Americans among all salaried employees. The plaintiffs argued that Coca-Cola failed to prevent and remedy this discrimination.
In 2000, Coca-Cola agreed to a $192 million settlement, the largest settlement ever in a corporate racial discrimination case. In the settlement agreement, Coca-Cola denied the allegations, but agreed to make sweeping changes to its personnel policies and procedures. In addition, the settlement gave an outside panel, jointly selected by Coca-Cola and the plaintiffs’ lawyers and approved by the court, limited authority to revise the company’s personnel policy. This panel, the Task Force, served as a watchdog for five years and was charged with evaluating Coca-Cola’s compliance with the terms of the settlement agreement. The Task Force issued its final report in December 2006, finding that its “mission has been a success” and that the company had “made significant progress.”
- Judge Is Set to Authorize Bias Settlement With Coke, Greg Winter, New York Times, 30 May 2001
- Coca-Cola Settles Racial Bias Case, Greg Winter, New York Times, 17 Nov 2000
- Coca-Cola in race pay-out, BBC News, 16 Nov 2000
- The Coca Cola Company: Corporate Responsibility - Diversity
- Mehri & Skalet, P.L.L.C. [plaintiffs’ counsel]: The Coca Cola Company [summary of case]
- Coca Cola Task Force Reports, 2002 to 2006
- Adballah et al. v. Coca-Cola - Amended Complaint, 22 Apr 1999
