Nike Inc. has reached a $7.6 million settlement in a class action race discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of 400 black employees of the company’s Chicago Niketown store, the company said Monday.
The lawsuit, filed in 2003, claimed managers at the retail store used racial slurs to refer to black workers and customers. They also said the store segregated black employees into lower-paying jobs as stockroom workers and cashiers rather than giving them lucrative sales jobs. And they alleged managers made unfounded accusations of theft against black workers and directed store security to monitor black employees and customers because of their race.
