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The suit was filed on behalf of black employees who argued that their white co-workers were being favored for higher pay and more promotions. The legal battle took nearly seven years, and roughly 3,000 current and past workers were given amounts ranging from $1,000 to $50,000.
In addition to favoring white employees over black ones, the company is accused of maintaining a racially-hostile working environment. Out of the massive settlement, roughly $9.7 million is set to go to the attorneys. The employees have complained about the legal fees, since it seems that the lawyers are the ones who stand to benefit the most.
Part of the settlement will go toward the creation of diversity programs to make the working environment more racially-inclusive. The company is also set to hire an industrial psychologist and labor statisticians to analyze the company's pay and promotion policies.
In a public statement, the company said that the settlement "represents a resolution of mutual interest and it absolutely does not suggest any wrongdoing on the company's part...Kodak is widely recognized as a company committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive workplace in which all employees are valued, treated fairly and can contribute to their full potential."
Workplace discrimination is a common problem with many corporations and universities across America. Many of us are affected by it, but don't always have the resources or capabilities to do something about it. The disenchanting experience of being cheated out of opportunities you've worked hard for can be devastating to some, even leading to prolonged anger, stress and mental illness. What's even worse is that many institutions that are guilty of racial exclusion are not even aware that they are doing it.
Most of our nation's institutions were built on a foundation of racial inequality: For the first 50 or more years of existence, these companies and universities were legally allowed to consider black folks to be the bottom of the barrel. Unfortunately, most institutions continue to hold onto old ways of doing things and refuse to adjust for the racial inequality created from past decisions. That's what leads to much of the racism that we are forced to deal with today.
If you want to know if your institution discriminates, the data will tell you nearly everything you need to know. For example, if you teach at a university that hasn't hired or tenured a single African American in over 40 years, that's racism. One of the reasons I vehemently opposed the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court is because her campus, the Harvard Law School, has excluded African Americans from tenure track faculty positions for hundreds of years. Kagan chose not to challenge the system, but instead maintained it by not giving tenure to a single African American during her entire time as Dean.
My point here is not to focus on Elena Kagan, but to explain how racism can lurk in the hallways of an institution long after the original perpetrators are dead. If you find yourself excusing racism or simply accepting it as the way things are, then you are doing nothing more than perpetuating America's crippling commitment to sickening inequality.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.