September 30, 2022
Black employees claiming an industrial baker and the staffing firm it contracted with illegally denied them work have asked an Illinois federal judge for an initial sign-off on a $1 million deal resolving their class action lawsuit after roughly nine years of litigation.
The workers alleged that Gold Standard Baking Inc. and staffing firm Personnel Staffing Group LLC, which operates as Most Valuable Personnel, violated civil rights law by steering Black workers away from GSB to please a client. On Friday, named plaintiffs James Zollicoffer and Norman Green said in their motion for preliminary approval that the defendants’ cash flow problems were a primary reason the parties engaged in mediation, which led to a tentative settlement.
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The workers are represented by Joseph Sellers and Harini Srinivasan of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC; Christopher J. Wilmes and Caryn Lederer of Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym and Christopher Williams of National Legal Advocacy Network.
Read more at Law360.