From WBAL-TV:
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has given final approval to a $22.7 million settlement involving a class-action lawsuit against the Social Security Administration filed by some of the agency's minority workers.
The issues include employee rights, promotions and worker compensation. …
African American men who worked at the SSA headquarters in Woodlawn, Baltimore County, at any time between 2003 and 2023 are eligible to submit a claim for a settlement award. …
"SSA has agreed to be transparent about what is going on in their awards bonus system. For the next two years, every decision in every office will report what awards were given, what people receive and at what rate, and that will allow everybody to take a look and make a decision about whether the system is working in a fair manner," [Jeremy] Wright [an attorney representing the plaintiffs] told 11 News Investigates. …
11 comments:
SSA management being transparent? Don’t make me laugh. Still wondering how much money management receives in award money when the employees are doing the hard work.
I wonder where that $22.7 million dollars is coming from? I agree that people should stand up for their rights, of course. However, if the money is coming from the operating budget, it'll be back to 2-3 hour waits on the phone.
Employee rights were violated and one should look the other way in order to preserve the budget? How about reassigning all those in management that were involved in the lawsuit to the frontlines and a lower salary or retirement. There are too many in upper management that are not doing their fair share of the workload.
Time for the Asian-American on the field to do the same
"My hope is this settlement deal (resolves) structural and institutional things that have been happening at the agency for so long," Tate told 11 News Investigates. "I think the message is you will be held accountable and continue to be held accountable."
The agency will now be held accountable at a tune of 22.7 million! SSA management will need to make some hard budget cuts since the rules were not followed for years.
Every fed agency pays into a pot of funds administered by the EEOC. Those funds are used to pay out settlements such as this. Discrimination is very real within the agency.
Discrimination is not widespread within SSA. The disparity in promotions and awards is due to a number of factors.
This settlement is way too much money, that which should be going to help beneficiaries.
This is actually the 2nd EEO claim to settle on basically the same facts. The other claim was brought by a different black male alleging discrimination in the mid 1990s and it involveda class. That one settled within a few years. Why the difference m? Because we used to have a very good LMR team but once they left, everything became a dattle royale.
Where you on the jury to make such an assessment?
Seemed pretty widespread here: https://www.wbaltv.com/article/workers-complaint-against-ssa-unresolved-years-later/8986812
The agency literally argued structural racism — their own — as a defense in this case. They literally argued that they believed black men to be inferior candidates for promotions and awards because they believed they were inferior candidates based on racist and classist assumptions rather than their own merit. The only thing big about this action is that it is theoretically ending so that the next class in this disturbingly ubiquitous discrimination may get justice decades late.
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