The Target Corporation, operator of the discount store chain, must defend an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit asserting it has racially biased hiring practices, a federal appeals court said yesterday.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh District in Chicago reversed a 2004 Wisconsin trial court decision to throw out a suit in which four black job applicants say they were denied management positions because of their skin color. The three-judge panel also questioned the company’s retention system for job applicants’ records.
All four claims arose between 2000 and 2001 and concern a Target store district encompassing the Milwaukee, Madison and Waukesha, Wis., metropolitan areas.
Three plaintiffs say their résumés contained information that would have indicated their race, the panel said. The fourth scored highly on a management aptitude test but received no offer. Target thus far has failed to prove that its reasons for rejecting the applicants were not merely a pretext for an improper and discriminatory decision, the court also said.
In a statement released after the decision, Target, which is based in Minneapolis, said: “The vast majority of this case was decided in Target Corporation’s favor two years ago, when the U.S. District Court in Milwaukee dismissed the E.E.O.C.’s claims on behalf of more than 60 candidates for store-level executive positions in the greater Milwaukee and Madison areas.”
“Target is confident it will prevail at trial,” the company said.
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