Federal suit accuses Walgreens of bias against black workers

ST. LOUIS — The federal government on Wednesday sued Walgreens, 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 Walgreens, based in Deerfield, Ill., makes decisions about employee assignment and promotion 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 found evidence of the trend around the U.S.

Walgreens released a statement saying it is committed to "fairness, diversity and opportunity" and that it was "saddened and disappointed" by the EEOC action.

The lawsuit alleges that Walgreens assigns black managers, management trainees and pharmacists to low-performing stores and to stores in black communities, and denies them promotions, based on race.

"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.

Walgreens is the nation's largest drugstore chain by sales. It has more than 5,638 stores in 48 states and Puerto Rico.