Fourth Circuit Orders Class Certification for African-American Steelworkers—Again

For the second time, the Fourth Circuit has determined that African-American employees at a South Carolina steel plant are entitled to Rule 23 class certification. In Brown v. Nucor Corporation and Nucor Steel-Berkeley, Plaintiffs originally sought class certification for alleged discriminatory job promotion practices and a racially hostile work environment in their suit against Nucor Corporation and Nucor Steel-Berkeley, operators of a steel plant in Huger, South Carolina, where putative class members worked across multiple departments. In 2007, the United States District Court in Charleston, South Carolina, denied plaintiffs' motion for class certification. The Fourth Circuit reversed the ruling in 2009, vacating and remanding the case with instructions to the District Court to certify the class as to both claims.