Compliance July 5, 2002

Enterprise Settles at $2.3 Million

May 7, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A leasing subsidiary of Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company will shell out $2.3 million as part of a settlement of a racial discrimination lawsuit by eight current and former black employees.
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The eight plaintiffs accused Enterprise Leasing Co. of St Louis of discriminating against them in both its hiring and promotional practices, according to a Dow Jones report. They filed suit in October 2000 in US District Court in St. Louis against the 900-employee Enterprise Leasing.

Although lawyers for both sides had worked out a deal late last year, it was just approved this week by a federal judge.

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Of the $2.3 million:

  • $575,000 will go to the plaintiffs,
  • $700,000 will go to black employees of Enterprise Leasing between October 1995 and December 2001,
  • $500,000 will go to blacks who applied for jobs at Enterprise Leasing during that period, and
  • $550,000 will go to the plaintiffs’ lawyers

Four of the eight plaintiffs are former employees and two are people who applied and weren’t hired by Enterprise Leasing, the lawyers said.

The agreement calls for the two plaintiffs who are still employed to resign from Enterprise Leasing. The pair will get an additional amount of money – an amount that’s being kept confidential – because they’re resigning, the lawyers said.

There are “a limited number of circumstances” where Enterprise Leasing can improve its hiring and promotional process through job postings, career counseling, and the development of job qualifications, according to the lawyers.

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