http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17503847/
St. Louis - The federal government Wednesday sued Walgreen Co., alleging widespread racial bias against thousands of black workers throughout the nation’s largest drugstore chain. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in a class-action lawsuit that Walgreen, based in Deerfield, Ill., makes decisions about employee assignment and promotion based on race. The lawsuit alleges that Walgreen assigns black managers, management trainees and pharmacists to low-performing stores and to stores in black communities, and denies them promotions, based on race. Most of the complaints that led to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis, Ill., came from employees and former employees in St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit and Tampa, Fla. But EEOC officials in St. Louis said they have found evidence of the same trend around the country. “Black managers are assigned to stores in black neighborhoods more often than one would expect, and black employees are not being promoted to management and within management as often as similar white employees,” said EEOC regional attorney Robert Johnson in St. Louis. The lawsuit, which alleges Walgreen engaged in unlawful employment practices since at least Jan. 1, 2001, seeks back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and an end to the practices. Walgreen released a statement saying it is committed to “fairness, diversity and opportunity” and that it was “saddened and disappointed” by the EEOC action. “Our commitment is to providing opportunity to all employees — not only because it is the right thing to do but because our business was built on this principle,” the statement said