Bank of America Settles Discrimination Lawsuit
24 years later, Bank of America finally settles discrimination lawsuit brought by Black job applicants
Bank of America has agreed to pay $1 million in back pay and interest to more than 1,000 African-American job applicants, settling a nearly 24-year-old discrimination case involving its predecessor NationsBank, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday, April 17.
The long-awaited settlement follows a 1993 DOL review of the Charlotte-area bank in which the department said it found “systemic hiring violations” involving 1,027 Black job applicants for entry-level positions. A suit brought by those denied jobs in the early ’90s led to over two decades of litigation for the company, reports Atlanta Black Star.
A probe by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs also found that the bank violated Executive Order 11246 as it discriminated against Black applicants for clerical, teller and administrative positions at its Charlotte facility, according to a DOL press release. Just last year, the Labor Department’s Administrative Review Board delivered a Final Decision and Order awarding financial relief to the applicants who weren’t hired in 1993.
The DOL said Bank of America, which merged with NationsBank in 1998, didn’t admit liability in reaching the deal. In a statement, the bank maintained that it’s committed to fair hiring practices.
Representatives for Bank of America didn’t respond to requests for comment.