Former UPS driver wins $238 million verdict in firing suit

A Black UPS driver has won a $237.6 million jury verdict in a case in which he claimed he was discriminated against and subjected to a hostile work environment before being fired.

The verdict, handed down Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington in Yakima, could be both the largest of its kind and the largest ever in the state, said attorney Dustin Collier, one of the attorneys who they represented the plaintiff Tahvio Gratton.

Gratton was awarded $39.6 million for emotional distress, along with $198 million in punitive damages, according to a transcript provided by Collier. The verdict sheet is not yet available to the public.

“Thank you to the jury for seeing the truth, vindicating our customers’ rights and sending a strong message to UPS that our communities will not tolerate racial discrimination, harassment or retaliation against victims of discrimination and harassment,” the lawyer said.

The package delivery service, in a statement to Bloomberg Law, said it would appeal.

The trial began on September 9.

About summary judgment

Gratton filed the lawsuit in October 2022 and amended his complaint six months later. Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice rejected a bid from United Parcel Service Inc. for summary judgment.

Gratton had claimed that he was often fired in favor of white drivers with less seniority than himself; repeatedly called “boy” by a supervisor; and given a less desirable route and a worse truck.

After filing complaints in 2018, 2020 and 2021 alleging racial discrimination and other workplace mistreatment, he said he was fired in 2021 following a sexual harassment investigation into whether he deliberately touched the back of a employed.

UPS alleges that Gratton touched his colleague’s hip while she was bending over.

A reasonable jury could find that Gratton was fired for speaking out and UPS’s stated reason for firing him — alleging he assaulted an employee — was pretext, Rice said in his April ruling, sending the case to trial.

“We are disappointed by the jury’s decision, but we respect the process and the jury’s deliberations,” UPS spokesman Glenn Zaccara said in an email. “We intend to appeal the verdict based on a number of evidentiary and legal errors.”

Zaccara said the company takes retaliation seriously, has prevention policies and claims its former driver was fired for an unprovoked attack on a co-worker.

Gratton was represented by Collier Socks LLP of Corte Madera, Calif., and Shishido Taren Goldsworthy PLLC of Seattle. UPS was represented by the Portland, Oregon office of Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC, along with Lewis Brisbois of Seattle.

The case is Gratton v. United Parcel Service Inc.ED Wash., 22-cv-3149, 9/12/24

Photo: A United Parcel Service Inc. driver. (UPS) pushes a cart in New York. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

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