The Seattle Times reports that Costco has reached a tentative agreement to settle a 2007 class action suit that accused the company of failing to allow women an equal shot at getting into management.
According to the story, the proposed settlement would have Costco agreeing "to establish an $8 million fund to compensate women in the lawsuit, which received class-action status in 2007. It also will overhaul its promotion procedures and tools. The company also agreed to have an industrial-organizational psychologist evaluate its methods to promote assistant general managers and general managers. The company will also create a posting process for assistant general manager promotions, and a system to register interest in promotions to general manager roles."
The Times writes that women were were unfairly denied promotions will be able to get money from the fund to compensate them.
According to the story, the proposed settlement would have Costco agreeing "to establish an $8 million fund to compensate women in the lawsuit, which received class-action status in 2007. It also will overhaul its promotion procedures and tools. The company also agreed to have an industrial-organizational psychologist evaluate its methods to promote assistant general managers and general managers. The company will also create a posting process for assistant general manager promotions, and a system to register interest in promotions to general manager roles."
The Times writes that women were were unfairly denied promotions will be able to get money from the fund to compensate them.
- KC's View:
-
Without reading too much into this settlement, I would argue that while it is a shame that any company has processes in place - deliberate or not - that prevent women from being promoted, there is no shame in admitting that the system is flawed and doing what needs to be done to fix it.
Beyond the legalities involved, companies like Costco are stronger when they have diverse management teams.
