Lufkin Industries loses class-action lawsuit

By Ashley Cook
The Lufkin Daily News
September 07, 2005

A federal judge has awarded $3.4 million in back pay plus interest to Lufkin Industries employees whose class-action lawsuit alleged racial discrimination in hiring and workplace behavior going back decades, according to court documents. When employees will see their money is unknown, plaintiff's attorney Timothy Garrigan, of Nacogdoches, said Tuesday. The case was filed in 1997 and became a class-action suit in 1999. Many employees have worked for Lufkin for 30 or 40 years.

"I simply don't know. It could drag on for several more years," Garrigan said. "As time passes, more and more of the class members will pass away." Lufkin Industries' attorneys have appealed U.S. District Judge Howell Cobb's 39-page judgment. Lufkin has asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss the case. Paul Perez, vice president for Lufkin Industries, did not immediately return a request for a comment on the case Tuesday.

With the Fifth Circuit based in New Orleans, La., it was not immediately clear Tuesday how hurricane Katrina's assault on the city last week would affect court schedules. The suit alleges more than 700 black employees suffered racial workplace behavior, were skipped over for jobs or missed promotions. White employees were selected and groomed for advancement, moving into managerial positions, according to Cobb.

"Black employees are more likely to be placed in dead-end positions and left to seek training on their own, outside of regular work hours," Cobb wrote. Cobb's decision includes an order to the company to stop all racial hiring and promotion practices. The court will consider appointing someone to oversee changes, ensuring his orders are carried out, Cobb stated.

While employees are "mostly thrilled" with the award, concern remains over how Lufkin Industries will make those changes, Garrigan said. Employees are gratified that the court continues to recognize discrimination is happening, he said. "That's the first step to correcting things," Garrigan said. He said Lufkin Industries needs to train human resources employees, using proper documentation and objective criteria for making promotion and compensation decisions. Those are moves that most employers have been doing for years, he said.

Cobb wrote that while he can order company hiring practices to change, he can't change the racist feelings inside the people behind those practices. Some discrimination at Lufkin was more subtle, giving white workers an unfair advantage such as training on new machines or ignoring absences, Cobb wrote. Human resources members routed blacks away from certain jobs, overstating the difficulty of qualifying tests or limiting skills training opportunities, according to Cobb.

One woman claimed she was demoted from a salaried position to a security guard job after raising concerns about a hostile work environment. Another employee said he was demoted after the departure of a former CEO who helped him get a salaried position.

With no women or minorities at the highest levels of the company for more than 100 years — with the exception of Perez, who is of Hispanic origin — whites make up just one-third of foundry positions, where the hottest, dirtiest and most physically-demanding jobs are, Cobb wrote.

Lufkin Industries claimed there were flaws in the plaintiffs' statistical models used to calculate the disparity between actual and expected racial distribution across the corporation's divisions. Cobb's response was to question Lufkin's expert, asking why calculations evaluating minority job assignments to divisions outside the foundry were ignored.

"Lufkin's discrimination in initial assignments and promotions has concentrated blacks in lower-paying jobs," Cobb wrote. Cobb's decision included a formula to pay workers varying amounts for hours worked per year, based on their positions and division. Determining monetary damages for promotions that never happened was impossible, according to Cobb.

The employees remain committed to seeing the case through to its end, Garrigan said. "I have not talked to any of them who just want to walk away from it," he said. Cobb slashed fees the attorneys were seeking, originally set at $6 million. Rates were cut substantially, with no pay awarded for lengthy failed negotiations. While he is committed to the Lufkin case, Garrigan said, Cobb's decisions on attorney fees may affect whether lawyers will be willing to take civil rights cases in the future.