Oakland: Kaiser Permanente to pay Black employees in $11.5 million settlement
Health care giant Kaiser Permanente has agreed to pay $11.5 million to settle claims going back 15 years that it illegally discriminated against thousands of Black employees — half of them in the Bay Area — by denying them equal pay and promotions.
The 111-page settlement, which requires court approval, would resolve a class-action lawsuit claiming Kaiser’s alleged bias affected 2,225 Black workers in administrative support and consulting services in California.
One of the four named plaintiffs — two current employees and two former, all from Kaiser’s Oakland headquarters — alleged she took a demotion just to escape “blatant racism” in her department.
The class of workers would share $7.6 million, with the four plaintiffs receiving $60,000 to $75,000 each for bringing the case. Another roughly $3.5 milliion would go to legal fees. The deal announced Thursday by the plaintiffs’ law firm noted that Oakland-based Kaiser, a non-profit consortium with about 217,000 employees, denies wrongdoing.
Read more: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/04/22/oakland-kaiser-permanente-to-pay-black-employees-in-11-5-million-settlement/
