Black Employees Accept Texaco Deal

All of the black Texaco Inc. employees covered by a landmark race-discrimination settlement have accepted the deal and declined to sue separately.

The 1,342 past and current workers stand to receive an average lump sum of about $60,000 each, depending mostly on how much time they put in at Texaco.

They had until Tuesday to notify plaintiff lawyers by mail that they would opt out of the settlement, but attorney Dan Berger said none did so.

The class-action settlement was reached soon after the disclosure last November of secret tape recordings on which Texaco executives allegedly belittled black employees and plotted the destruction of evidence in the race case.

Those eligible for the settlement include salaried black employees who had worked for Texaco at any time between March 23, 1991, and Nov. 15, 1996.