Foster v. Cargill, Inc.

Closed Case
Gender Discrimination in Employment
Race Discrimination in Employment
Settled in 1985 for Injunctive Relief

In 1982, Paul Sprenger filed a series of race and gender class actions against Cargill, Inc., the world's largest privately held corporation with headquarters in Minneapolis. Two classes of management level female and black, past and present, employees and applicants were established by the United States District Court, District of Minnesota as part of a consent decree in 1985. The court also granted intervention plaintiff status to the U.S. EEOC. The company has for more than a century been one of the nation's largest grain and agricultural products wholesalers to world markets. Together the EEOC and Paul Sprenger undertook successful and regular efforts over the term of the consent decree to add to Cargill's then low level female and minority employment at the management level. The classes included about 1,500 members with the monetary value of the decree established at about $20 million.