Sprenger & Lang Alleges Sexual Harassment, Gender Discrimination Against C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.

Business Editors/Legal Writers

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2002

Female Employees Subjected to Pornographic E-mail Exchanges,

Images of Sex Acts

Fourteen current or former female employees at C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (CHRW), one of the country's largest transportation freight companies with annual revenues of more than $3 billion, filed a complaint today alleging systematic gender discrimination and a flagrantly hostile work environment throughout the company's U.S. operations.

They also allege that CHRW violated federal law by refusing to pay them overtime when they worked more than 40 hours per week.

The Complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis by Sprenger & Lang, paints a lurid picture of a male-dominated company whose female employees were subjected to pornographic e-mails, pictures, and sexual commentary from managers, supervisors and co-workers on a daily basis.

In addition, of the 4,000 employees at CHRW, women comprise a miniscule fraction of the management positions, with little hope for advancement, according to the Complaint.

The alleged gender discrimination has resulted in women occupying only one of the 22 senior management-level and Board of Director positions (that woman was hired in the last two months to head human relations activities after CHRW became aware that this lawsuit was imminent), and fewer than five of the 140 branch manger positions available within the company.

CHRW's sales force is predominantly male, and the Complaint alleges that when women manage to break into these positions, they are paid less than men doing the same work.

Attorneys representing the plaintiffs are seeking class certification for more than 1,000 current and former female employees within the company. Wage loss alone could exceed $20 million dollars annually, according to the attorneys.

Punitive and compensatory damages, which are capped at $300,000 per class member under federal law, could provide a recovery well into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"We've been involved in scores of sexual harassment and gender discrimination cases over the years, but this one features the most severe examples we've seen in an office situation," said Larry Schaefer, one of the counsel for the charging parties and a partner in the Minneapolis office of the nationally-recognized class action law firm of Sprenger & Lang.

"The environment at C.H. Robinson is more akin to a fraternity house than one of the country's leading freight transportation outfits," Michael Lieder, a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. office explained. He added that most of the examples of pornography to which the women were exposed are too graphic even to be included in the Complaint.

For more than a decade, Sprenger & Lang prosecuted a gender discrimination class action lawsuit on behalf of female miners that is featured in the recently released book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law (Doubleday 2002).

The firm's lawyers believe that this case could have the same impact on sexual harassment law in computerized offices today that the case of Jenson v. Eveleth Mines had on the blue collar workplaces of a decade or more ago. Images on a computer screen, they claim, can have as devastating an impact as graffiti on the walls.

Adding insult to injury, women not only suffer from blatant discrimination, but if they are salaried, they also do not receive overtime pay, the Complaint alleges. It charges that CHRW treats all salaried employees as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act. In doing so, CHRW blatantly violates the law. The attorneys estimate that lost overtime for female salaried employees tops $50 million.

The award to any woman who opted in to the lawsuit would be automatically doubled under the FLSA.

CHRW, based in Eden Prairie, MN, has approximately 140 branch offices in 40 states. The company's primary line of business is the provision of logistical support to customers wishing to ship freight.

It has relationships with more than 20,000 truck, rail, sea and air carriers, and advertises that it will select the combination of carriers for any shipping job that provides the greatest efficiencies while meeting the customer's service needs.

For a copy of the complaint, please visit www.chrwgendercase.com. Additional information about Sprenger & Lang is available at the firm website at www.sprengerlang.com.

ABOUT SPRENGER & LANG

Sprenger & Lang, with offices in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., has obtained some of the country's largest gender, age, and race discrimination and ERISA judgments on behalf of tens of thousands of employees.

Sprenger & Lang has successfully represented classes of plaintiffs against companies such as Burlington Northern, CBS, Cargill, Northwest Airlines, First Union, Amtrak and Ceridian Corporation.