A federal judge reduced a $237.6 million jury award against United Parcel Service to $39.6 million in the case of a black former driver who accused the package delivery company of workplace discrimination and wrongful firing.
In a decision made public Friday, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice in Yakima, Washington, granted UPS’s request to award punitive damages of $198 million, and found that jurors were improper in awarding the amount to Tahvio Gratton. Work done.
The decision will not affect Gratton’s $39.6 million jury award for infliction of emotional distress, but UPS plans to throw that out as well.
Rice found no evidence that a UPS supervisor intended to investigate whether Gratton inappropriately touched a female employee on the loading dock, resulting in Gratton being fired in October 2021 after five years of employment. Was dismissed in.
He also said that Gratton was able to tell his side of the story with the help of his union.
Gratton said that UPS used the loading dock incident as an excuse to fire him over his complaints about the workplace, for which he immediately apologized.
In his lawsuit, Gratton said that supervisors at the UPS facility in Yakima often passed him over for route assignments in favor of less senior drivers and gave them less desirable trucks and routes than white drivers.
Gratton also said that a young white supervisor repeatedly called him “boy” and defended that term by saying: “I’m from the South. That’s how I talk.”
UPS said Monday it plans to seek a new trial and overturn the remaining Sept. 12 verdict.
Gratton’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is Gratton v. United Parcel Service Inc., U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington, No. 22-03149.
