Company to Pay for Discrimination

Document text

The following text has been generated automatically during the document scanning process. It may contain errors, omissions, or incorrect formatting. Please refer to the PDF document if this text is not usable.

Download

By downloading, publishing, or reusing the Materials outside of the Website, you hereby confirm and attest that you have read and agree to the LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use linked below. We draw your attention to the following:

For those Materials owned by LDF, your use of the Material outside the Site is solely for one or more of the following (the “Permitted Purposes”):

Non-commercial research and private study;
Teaching, scholarship and instruction (including distance learning);
Non-commercial print and non-commercial online use;
Criticism, comment or news reporting; or
For people with visual disabilities (See Section 121 of the Copyright Act).
For those Materials not owned by LDF you understand that:
- It is your responsibility to determine whether the way you plan to use the materials falls within the copyright exception of Fair Use.
- For any use outside of Fair Use, it is your responsibility to seek and obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders.

LDF hereby grants you the right to use LDF owned Materials for the Permitted Purposes without seeking further permission from LDF.

If you publish or redistribute any Materials (including excerpts and quotes), you must include a credit line and/or proper citation to the source of the Material. However, you may not use the name of LDF in any manner which creates any false association between you and LDF or that incorrectly implies any sponsorship or endorsement of you by LDF.

NOTICE: Uses that do not comply with these Terms or that do not fall under Fair Use (or another exception) may make you liable for copyright infringement.

Read the full LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use Here.

I agree to the terms and conditions for use of this content.

If you would like to use this content in other ways, contact us at

Collection
- Press Releases
Creator
- LDF
Taxonomy
Identifier
- 47369a64-ba92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

Cite this item

Press Releases, Volume 6. Company to Pay for Discrimination, 1971. 47369a64-ba92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/1f41d055-8d76-4e47-8081-247d91438ff1/company-to-pay-for-discrimination. Accessed August 13, 2025.

Copied!

February 3, 1971
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMPANY TO PAY FOR DISCRIMINATION

New York, New York ---- In a decision handed down on Monday (2/1), a

U.S. court of appeals for the fourth circuit ruled that companies found guilty

of discriminatory hiring practices must pay legal fees incurred by plaintiffs.

The decision came as a result of an otherwise typical Title VII case,

where the court found the Cone Mills Corporation of Greensboro, N.C. guilty of

discriminating against four black female plaintiffs, who were denied employment

or even an opportunity to complete job application forms.

Undisputed by the court was the company's claim that no jobs were available

when the women applied. However, according to other testimony given, Cone Mills

employed no black women at the time of the incident, and the court found that

the company's broad policy of discrimination against blacks, in lieu of specific

proof of discrimination against the four plaintiffs, was sufficient to establish

a civil rights violation.

Robert Belton, a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund,

Inc. (LDF), who argued the case and raised the question of legal fees, said

"the decision will be a major breakthrough for Title VII litigation, especially

if it is challenged and upheld in the Supreme Court."

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the non-profit legal arm of

the civil rights movement, whose case load is determined by the amount of

S public support it receives, could conceivably increase its activity in the area

of Title VII litigation because of the ruling on legal fees.

Title VIL is part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and forbids job discrimina-

tion on grounds of race, color, religion, national origin or sex.

The decision is expected to govern numerous Title VII cases currently

pending in fourth circuit courts, and will be cited in courts around the

country where hundreds of Title VII battles are being waged.

-30- ;

For further information: Attorney William Robinson
Sandy O'Gorman, Public Info. } (212) 586-8397

NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. | 10 Columbus Circle | New York, N.Y. 10019 | (212) 586-8397:

William T. Coleman, Jr. - President Jack Greenberg - Director-Counsel

Copyright notice

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.

Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

Company to Pay for Discrimination

Collection

Creator

Taxonomy

Identifier

Cite this item

Copyright notice

Additional info

You may also be interested in