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TIME: Almanac 1993
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TIME Almanac 1993.iso
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021389
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02138900.013
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1992-09-23
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BUSINESS, Page 63Business NotesLITIGATIONClosing a Color Gap
The battle began as a simple lawsuit filed by one black
employee who had been passed over for a promotion at General
Motors. But by the time GM agreed to a settlement last week, the
complaint had grown into a class-action suit representing some
10,000 workers, mostly clerical and managerial, who will reap
millions of dollars in pay adjustments. The accusation: that
GM's system for judging worker performance discriminated against
blacks. "Evaluators were allowed to indulge their biases,
conscious or unconscious," said Dennis James, lawyer for the
plaintiffs.
While admitting no guilt, GM has agreed to pay more than $3
million in damages to 3,800 past and present employees, along
with $13 million in pay raises for black workers whose salaries
are most out of line with those of their white counterparts.
The automaker has promised that future raises and promotions
for blacks will keep pace with those for whites, a pledge that
could cost $20 million to $40 million over the next few years.