Resource: Negotiating Enduring Corporate Change: A Case Study on the Task Force on Equality and Fairness in Roberts v. Texaco Inc.

By: Cathy Cronin-Harris & David M. White

March 1, 2005

In recent years, there has been a spate of class action employment discrimination suits. American institutions such as Coca-Cola, Denny’s, Home Depot, Merrill Lynch and Mitsubishi have joined the pantheon of corporate citizens charged with impermissible discriminatory workplace hiring and promotional practices. Each of these civil law suits resulted in a multi-million dollar monetary settlement. Indeed, the current federal litigation against the nation’s largest employer, Wal-Mart, promises to set the new bar for plaintiff recovery.

Roberts v. Texaco Inc. is the progenitor of the modern employment discrimination class action settlement. In 1996, a surreptitiously recorded, inaudible sound bite alleged to be a racial slur set in motion a media firestorm which impugned the character of Texaco Inc., one of the nation’s most respected corporate citizens. The remark prompted settlement of a civil suit filed two years earlier. While the magnitude of the settlement is in and of itself remarkable, the most salient aspect of the Roberts legacy is its innovative approach to settlement administration and oversight: the creation of a body known as the Task Force on Equality and Fairness (“Task Force”). This Case Study represents a retrospective examination of the Texaco Task Force on Equality and Fairness. The instant work reflects the Task Force’s understanding of its mandate and the procedural approach employed in oversight of reforms pursuant to the Settlement Agreement. The Case Study Project Team (“the Project Team”) interviewed the Court, former Task Force members and counsel for the disputants to supplement the public record.

The Project Team has concluded that the Texaco Task Force model offers a valuable approach to the administration of complex employment discrimination settlements, as many of the practices identified herein may be imported in whole or in part to subsequent litigations. The Case Study, while not a “how to” manual for the development of a prospective task force, is nonetheless instructive and may prompt further consideration by future litigants.

http://www.dmwlawfirm.com/resources/Texaco%20Case%20Study.pdf

Resource Type(s):

Case Studies

Institution: Center for Dispute Resolution

Citation: (2005)

Related Cases:

Roberts v. Texaco, Inc.