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Sacramento Employment Law Blog

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Fremont car dealer settles worker discrimination suit for $400K


Workplace discrimination comes in a lot of different forms. While some forms of discrimination may elicit a deeper negative reaction, no one form is any worse than the other under California law. Whether the action takes the form of sexual harassment, denial of medical leave, employer retaliation, or race discrimination, the law is clear.

Sometimes, however, employers need reminding. Such appears to have been the case in regard to a Fremont-based car dealership. Word this week is that the company has reached a settlement to pay out $400,000 to five former employees to settle a federal employment discrimination case.

The five former employees, all of them Afghan-Americans, accused the dealership’s general manager of saying that they were terrorists. They also say he threatened violence and to retaliate against them after they and a fifth employee filed a charge of mistreatment on the basis of race.

According to the formal complaint, the abuse started in October 2007. It says that during a staff meeting, the general manager began calling four of the salesmen names and threatened to “blow them up with a grenade.” The suit says complaints to upper management fell on deaf ears, triggering only retribution in the form of undue scrutiny and harassment.

They all quit late in the month. Then, in early December, the fifth employee, an Afghan-American manager, got fired for speaking out about the earlier harassment. In an ironic twist, several of the employees enlisted in the military and served in Afghanistan.

Under terms of the announced settlement, the Toyota dealership must not only pay out the $400,000, but must also offer anti-discrimination training. A notice about the lawsuit must be posted in the dealership and current managers have to report back annually to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the next three years.

One last thing of note — the manager originally accused of discrimination was never named in the suit. But then, he doesn’t work at the dealership anymore.

Source: MercuryNews.com, “Fremont car dealership to pay $400,000 to settle discrimination lawsuit,” Chris De Benedetti, The Argus, Aug. 8, 2012

Our firm handles situations similar to those described in this post. To learn more about our practice, you are invited to visit our Sacramento race and age discrimination page.

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