A federal jury in Washington state hit UPS with a $237.6 million verdict in a lawsuit brought by a Black former driver who said he had faced racist harassment — including a manager who referred to him as “boy” — and had been fired after complaining about the mistreatment.
The breakdown of the verdict is $39.6 million for emotional distress and $198 million in punitive damages.
How We Got Here
The Plaintiff was a UPS driver until his termination in October 2021. The Plaintiff alleged that he was treated differently because he was black and when he complained, he was ignored. According to the lawsuit, during a “ride a long,” a white manager allegedly kept referring to the Plaintiff as “boy.” The Plaintiff says he complained but nothing was done.
UPS claimed that the Plaintiff was fired for assaulting a female co-worker. Clearly, the jury did not buy that reason.
Why The Verdict Probably Doesn’t Stand
The Plaintiff sued under Title VII. Despite the sexy headline, Title VII caps the total amount of compensatory and punitive damages at $300,000 for a company the size of UPS. So, the likely outcome here is that at best, the Plaintiff’s verdict gets significantly reduced.
What Does this Mean for Employers?
Juries continue to hand out extreme verdicts in retaliation cases. While most of these verdicts are drastically reduced, as an employer you don’t want to be in a position where you’re asking a judge to reduce a runaway jury verdict.