Closed Case
Race Discrimination in Employment
Settled in 2000 for $16 million.

Informally called the AMTRAK Maintenance of Way Race Discrimination Litigation, this race discrimination class action settled for $16 million and sweeping injunctive relief. The class consists of all of the black workers who build and maintain the tracks, structures and electric power lines for Amtrak's northeast corridor. A four-year Consent Decree sets out the injunctive provisions, which include changes to many of Amtrak's procedures concerning hiring, training, testing for qualifications and discipline, and a process by which some of those provisions may be incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement between the union and Amtrak. The changes reduce the possibility for arbitrary management decisions and make the workplace fairer for all members of the union regardless of race.

Co-Counsel: Pennsylvania Federation of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, Philadelphia, PA; Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Washington, DC; Shapiro, Haber & Urmy, Boston, MA; and Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association, Boston, MA.

Reported Decisions:

• 16 F. Supp. 2d 5 (D.D.C. 1998)