AFRICAN AMERICAN WORKER OBJECT KODAK SETTLEMENT
A
group of former Eastman Kodak Co. workers objected Friday to a proposed
$21.4 million deal to settle two lawsuits by black employees who
maintain they were paid and promoted less than white
counterparts.”We’ve all been mistreated in some way. … I was just
hoping the settlement would be better,” said Ora Patterson, 55, who
worked assembly-line jobs at the photography products company for 32
years until 2005.While admitting no wrongdoing, Kodak proposed in July
paying about 3,000 current and past workers settlement amounts ranging
from $1,000 to $75,000. If approved, the deal would end a 2004
class-action lawsuit and a similar lawsuit filed by other black workers
in 2007.U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman heard arguments in favor
of the deal from Kodak and lawyers for the plaintiffs. He then fielded
complaints from more than a dozen former employees who said that
payouts were inadequate, lawyer fees too high and the deal unfairly
excluded workers who left Kodak before 1999.A second hearing will be
held Nov. 5 before Feldman issues a written decision on whether to
accept or reject Kodak’s settlement offer.Kodak was accused of paying
black employees less than white co-workers, passing them over for
promotions and maintaining a racially hostile work environment.
Patterson’s
33-year-old daughter, Sherlonda, who worked for Kodak for just 11
months, told the judge that “I’m getting more than my mom is. … It’s
not right.” While she’s been offered more than $3,000, she said her
mother’s payout will be $1,000 “for 32 years of dedicated service.””We
caught a real hard time,” her mother said outside the packed
courtroom. “I hope Kodak will be better in the future toward the
younger generation that they don’t go through the pain we did.”Barbara
Searight, who worked at Kodak for 24 years until 1996, said lawyers
“who we trusted and had great confidence in … sold us out.””I felt
very strongly that I was discriminated against, job-wise,” she said.
“In my case, no matter if you did your best, you were still held back,
and then the whites would get the promotions.”As part of the deal,
Kodak promised to enhance its diversity training for supervisors and
hire an industrial psychologist and two labor statisticians to review
its pay and promotion policies and recommend improvements.In a
statement, Kodak said it has become “a nationally recognized leader in
diversity and inclusion and we remain committed to fairness, dignity
and respect in the workplace.”