How much did Adrian Stratton receive in compensation after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) settled a long investigation with Groupon, accused of not hiring the Black man because of his race?
That question remains unanswered after the EEOC on December 27 announced it had reached a settlement with Groupon, the popular Chicago-based company that fought hard to keep its hiring practices private after it was accused of and sued for racial discrimination.
Questions were raised when Groupon settled out of court, agreeing to give $350,000 in scholarship money to Black students seeking careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). As for Stratton, the EEOC is not saying how much he received or if he got any money at all stemming from his alleged racial complaint against Groupon.
It’s a legal case where Groupon may have emerged the winner, escaping allegations of racial discrimination against Stratton, who sought help from the EEOC and whose case sparked an intense investigation that lasted for nearly a decade.
The investigation ended with an out-of-court settlement with the EEOC, which remains silent on whether Stratton was awarded punitive or compensatory damages.
The EEOC case began on October 16, 2014, when Stratton applied for a job as vice president of merchandising at Groupon, a company that has made billions of dollars by offering numerous retail, travel and service deals to consumers.
When Stratton did not get the job, he filed a racial discrimination complaint with the EEOC, which began investigating the allegation. The EEOC didn’t provide many details about Stratton’s complaint, which appeared to have never been filed in court.
According to the online website AnyLaw.com, one week after Stratton filed his complaint, the EEOC on October 23, 2014, sent Groupon a notice of Stratton’s complaint and began investigating whether the company’s hiring practices violated federal civil rights laws based on race. Groupon in a response on November 24, 2014, denied Stratton’s allegations.
Months later, on February 2, 2015, the EEOC began requesting information from Groupon, including permission to conduct onsite interviews of the individuals who reviewed Stratton’s application. The EEOC also requested to speak to Groupon’s executives who were familiar with the company’s policies.
Groupon granted those interviews, but when the EEOC requested additional information and permission to conduct an onsite investigation at Groupon’s headquarters in Chicago, the company refused, arguing the request was “overly broad.”
On June 13, 2015, the EEOC issued two administrative subpoenas to Groupon to enforce its request for an onsite investigation. In response Groupon took the matter to court, arguing the EEOC’s request was overly broad and irrelevant to the case. In a setback for Groupon, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ruled the subpoenas were relevant to the charge and not overly broad or burdensome. Groupon was then ordered to turn over data on its workplace.
That was 2016. What happened since then between the EEOC and Groupon remains unknown.
The EEOC never provided an update on the case until it announced the settlement with Groupon on December 27, 2023. The federal agency responsible for protecting minorities from discrimination has not revealed or disclosed the workplace data that Judge Ellis ordered Groupon to turn over seven years ago.
The settlement the EEOC reached with Groupon leaves more questions than answers.
Did Groupon violate federal employment laws when it rejected Stratton’s application for employment? What were the contents of the workplace data that Groupon submitted to the EEOC? How many Black executives work at Groupon?
Why did the case never go to court after a nearly decade-long investigation? And what was the breaking point that led Groupon to settle the case out of court? Perhaps, most important, what compensation did Stratton receive in the out-of-court settlement?
The public may never know because details of out-of-court settlements are rarely disclosed. And Groupon, like most defendants, usually does not have to admit wrongdoing in many settlements.
The Crusader contacted the EEOC with questions on the settlement, but Victor Chen, director of communications, said the agency will not provide any more details on the deal.
According to Groupon’s latest proxy filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2021, Groupon has one Black member on its 8-member Board of Directors. And there are no Blacks among Groupon’s five named executives, the company’s highest paid individuals, who on top of huge six-figure salaries earned millions in stock awards and bonuses.
It’s unclear how many Black executives are among Groupon’s 2,904 employees.
Groupon said through the EEOC that it has expanded its annual equal employment opportunity (EEO) training for its management and employees, and agreed to continue to regularly review its existing EEO policies, all of which will be supervised by Groupon’s chief people officer and global head of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Additionally, Groupon will continue to partner with the EEOC to voluntarily provide annual reports to the EEOC on recruitment activities and hiring demographics and will meet regularly with the EEOC to discuss Groupon’s progress.
In its announcement, the EEOC said it and Groupon have agreed to a deal where Groupon will “contribute $350,000 toward establishing an educational fund dedicated to improving primary and secondary STEM education for Black students and awarding scholarships to Black students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM fields.
“Groupon has demonstrated that it is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, including through contributing to furthering STEM education and improving its hiring and recruiting practices,” said Diane Smason, Acting District Director of the EEOC’s Chicago District Office.
“Other employers, particularly those experiencing rapid growth and increasingly high staffing demands, should bear in mind that promoting diversity and inclusion in recruiting and hiring efforts not only helps attract top talent, it lays the foundation for building a workforce that prioritizes equity in all aspects of employment.”
“Building and nurturing a diverse and engaged workforce is a mission-critical priority for Groupon. We also want to contribute to a future where there is equality of opportunity for all, and, in this spirit, we are excited to create the STEM educational fund,” Emma Coleman, Groupon’s Global Head of Communications and DEI, said in a statement.
