The Missouri courts this week rejected the appeal of a Hispanic contractors association that in 2005 unsuccessfully sued H&R Block on charges of contracting discrimination, the Kansas City Star reported.
The case centered on a $138 million project: the construction of the company's new 17-story headquarters in Kansas City. It opened in 2006.
The Kansas City Hispanic Association of Contractors Enterprise and contractor Diaz Construction Co. claimed that the company failed to meet its goal of ensuring that 15 percent of its sub-contractors were minority-owned businesses.
In a Tuesday ruling, the Missouri Court of Appeals agreed with a decision by the Jackson County Circuit Court that the Kansas City Hispanic Association of Contractors Enterprise and Diaz Construction did not have the grounds to file a lawsuit.
The ruling said that a lawsuit isn't the proper forum to challenge affirmative-action policy violations.
The proper remedy, the court ruled, is for H&R Block to pay liquidated damages to the Tax Increment Financing Commission, a public board of directors which makes policy recommendations to the city council.
A spokesman for the Hispanic Association of Contractors told the Star that the organization intends to go before the commission to assess whether H&R Block made a "good faith effort" to meet the goal.
