A labor union and its apprenticeship program are finally paying up after a ruling was made in a decades long case.

Local 25 of the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association and its associated apprenticeship school settled race discrimination claims made by the EEOC to the tune of $1.65 million with “substantial remedial relief.”   The first suit was actually filed in 1971.

The decades-old lawsuit addresses allegations that Local 25 in conjunction with Local 25 Joint Apprenticeship Committee, discriminated against black and Hispanic journeypersons during their hiring and assignment processes. Local 25 is the trade union for sheet metal journeypersons in northern New Jersey.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 1971 by the US Department of Justice in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, but the EEOC took over as prosecuting council in 1974. Originally, according to human resource experts, the case was filed against Local 25’s predecessors. In 1981, Local 10 merged with other unions into Local 28 of the Sheet Metal Works’ International Association and the Local 28 JAC of Northern New Jersey. Local 25 demerged from Local 28 in 1991.

The settlement only covers violations that occurred from April 1991 through December 2002. When an analysis was conducted of hours and wages it became increasingly clear that African- American and Hispanic workers received fewer hours than their white co-workers for a majority of the 10-year period. HR experts say that prior court actions in the lawsuit were able to resolve violations that happened before April 1991 and that although there has been a settlement, the case will surely continue.

In addition to the $1.65 million in damages that will be paid out to victims of discrimination, Local 25 actually agreed to an injunction against discrimination on the basis of race and national origin with regard to different human resource processes including termination and hiring.