Nucor Yamato Steel Company announced that it prevailed in a lawsuit that was finally heard by a jury in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
The case filed seven years ago claimed a nationwide class action on a variety of employment claims. When the nationwide class action was dismissed, the Alabama plaintiffs' lawyers sought a plant wide class. This too was dismissed leaving a handful of individual plaintiffs who proceeded to a jury verdict.
Most of the remaining claims were dismissed prior to trial. Claims of failure to promote, involuntary transfers, and retaliation were similarly rejected. Undeterred, the law firm asked for USD 21 million in damages on the issues at trial. The jury sent a clear message finding in favor of Nucor-Yamato on the discriminatory retaliation claims but awarded the plaintiffs USD 1.2 million on one issue, which was not a tenth of what they had asked for. To this extent the award is disappointing, and Nucor-Yamato will appeal and continue to fight on behalf of the hardworking team members this verdict affects.
The release said that “Like so many other successful companies, Nucor-Yamato was targeted by a professional plaintiffs' law firm eager for an economic windfall for themselves. But to be clear, Nucor-Yamato has over 800 team members who were not a part of this lawsuit. Many testified to the extraordinary financial, educational, and professional opportunities working for Nucor-Yamato has afforded them. Unfortunately, greater numbers of team members were not allowed to testify on the true nature of Nucor-Yamato.”
Mr Doug Jellison VP & GM of Nucor-Yamato said “This case has always been about proving to others what the hard-working men and women of Nucor-Yamato have always known. We have absolutely no tolerance or patience for discrimination.”
Mr Jellison, citing a 2005 Employer of the Year Award from the NAACP, further added that "Nucor-Yamato has a strong history of treating African-American employees with equality and respect.”
He said “We have always taken a very strong stance against discrimination and harassment of all kinds, implementing policies, procedures and safeguards to avoid problems. We have a responsibility to defend the reputations of the hundreds of good, honest, hard-working team members of Nucor-Yamato. We will continue fighting this one issue for as long as it takes to show how unfair and wrong these allegations are.”
