Nov 18 (Reuters) - A federal judge reduced a $237.6

million jury award against United Parcel Service ( UPS ) to

$39.6 million in the case of a Black former driver who accused

the package delivery company of workplace bias and wrongful

firing.

In a decision made public on Friday, U.S. District Judge

Thomas Rice in Yakima, Washington, accepted UPS' request to

throw out a $198 million in punitive damages award, finding

jurors acted unreasonably in awarding the sum to Tahvio Gratton.

The decision does not affect the jury's $39.6 million award

to Gratton for emotional distress, but UPS plans to ask that it

be thrown out as well.

Rice found no proof that a UPS supervisor intended to

commandeer a probe into whether Gratton touched a female worker

inappropriately on a loading dock, resulting in Gratton's

October 2021 dismissal after five years of employment.

He also said Gratton was able to tell his side of the story,

with assistance from his union.

Gratton said UPS used the loading dock incident, for which

he said he apologized immediately, as a pretext for firing him

over his complaints about the workplace.

In his lawsuit, Gratton said supervisors at a UPS facility

in Yakima frequently passed him over for route assignments in

favor of less senior drivers and gave him less desirable trucks

and routes than white drivers received.

Gratton also said a younger white supervisor repeatedly

called him "boy" and defended using that term by saying: "I'm

from the South. That's how I talk."

UPS said on Monday it plans to seek a new trial and overturn

the remainder of the Sept. 12 verdict.

Lawyers for Gratton did not immediately respond to

requests for comment.

The case is Gratton v United Parcel Service Inc ( UPS ), U.S.

District Court, Eastern District of Washington, No. 22-03149.