DreamWeaver
03-25-2002, 05:03 AM
GM hit with $7.4 billion lawsuit
Minority workers claim automaker didn't prevent harassment
DETROIT, March 20 - A group of minority workers has filed a $7.4 billion lawsuit against General Motors Corp. alleging the automaker failed to prevent its employees from committing racial and sexual harassment at two facilities in Michigan.
FIFTEEN WORKERS ARE named as plaintiffs in the suit, which claims that GM, through "intentional or negligent acts," allowed an atmosphere of harassment and discrimination to fester at its truck assembly plant and truck engineering and development center in Pontiac, Michigan.
GM, the world's largest automaker, settled a similar case last year that involved lawsuits alleging both racial and sexual harassment at a manufacturing plant in Linden, New Jersey.
Among other charges the Pontiac suit alleges that two black assembly line workers, both named as plaintiffs, were confronted by a white GM foreman clad in a Ku Klux Klan outfit in the workplace.
"I am the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and you niggers better get your act together," the foreman announced, according to the suit filed Friday in the Wayne County Circuit Court.
"The intent of the General Motors group leader was to intimidate and humiliate plaintiffs because of their race or color," says the suit, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
As in the Linden case, the suit also alleges that hangman's nooses were hung over or near the workstations of black employees and that they and other plaintiffs, including Native Americans and Mexican-Americans, were subjected to racial slurs.
The suit also refers to alleged threatening telephone calls received by female minority workers and says complaints to supervisors and managers about the "hostile work environment" at the Pontiac facilities failed to prompt GM to take disciplinary or preventive measures.
"UNFORTUNATE INCIDENTS"
GM disputed that claim, however, saying it actively sought to address "a small number of unfortunate incidents" in Pontiac and to crack down on harassment and discrimination in general, whenever possible.
"GM does not condone or tolerate such behavior," the company said in a statement, which added that most of the allegations in the lawsuit were "untrue."
"The allegation that GM maintains a hostile work environment is false," it added.
William Selinsky, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the $7.4 billion it was seeking in punitive damages was based on the annual profits GM is believed to reap from its facilities in Pontiac.
GM makes some of its best-selling vehicles, including its Chevy Silverado pickup truck, at the facilities, northwest of Detroit.
But GM spokesman Tom Wickham, who called the price-tag attached to lawsuit "extremely puzzling," noted that GM does not report financial results for any one factory or plant.
In addition to punitive damages, the suit seeks $10 million in compensatory damages from GM.
Selinsky said he and other plaintiff attorneys would seek class-action status in the case and that hundreds of disgruntled GM workers may eventually become part of it.
Of the current 15 plaintiffs, one has never actually been a GM employee. He joined the suit because he applied for a job at the automaker, but was allegedly turned down because of his race.
GM agreed to pay $1.25 million in the New Jersey case. The largest settlement in a racial discrimination case was in 2000, when the Coca-Cola Co. agreed to pay $156 million to as many as 2,000 current and former black employees.
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Minority workers claim automaker didn't prevent harassment
DETROIT, March 20 - A group of minority workers has filed a $7.4 billion lawsuit against General Motors Corp. alleging the automaker failed to prevent its employees from committing racial and sexual harassment at two facilities in Michigan.
FIFTEEN WORKERS ARE named as plaintiffs in the suit, which claims that GM, through "intentional or negligent acts," allowed an atmosphere of harassment and discrimination to fester at its truck assembly plant and truck engineering and development center in Pontiac, Michigan.
GM, the world's largest automaker, settled a similar case last year that involved lawsuits alleging both racial and sexual harassment at a manufacturing plant in Linden, New Jersey.
Among other charges the Pontiac suit alleges that two black assembly line workers, both named as plaintiffs, were confronted by a white GM foreman clad in a Ku Klux Klan outfit in the workplace.
"I am the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and you niggers better get your act together," the foreman announced, according to the suit filed Friday in the Wayne County Circuit Court.
"The intent of the General Motors group leader was to intimidate and humiliate plaintiffs because of their race or color," says the suit, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
As in the Linden case, the suit also alleges that hangman's nooses were hung over or near the workstations of black employees and that they and other plaintiffs, including Native Americans and Mexican-Americans, were subjected to racial slurs.
The suit also refers to alleged threatening telephone calls received by female minority workers and says complaints to supervisors and managers about the "hostile work environment" at the Pontiac facilities failed to prompt GM to take disciplinary or preventive measures.
"UNFORTUNATE INCIDENTS"
GM disputed that claim, however, saying it actively sought to address "a small number of unfortunate incidents" in Pontiac and to crack down on harassment and discrimination in general, whenever possible.
"GM does not condone or tolerate such behavior," the company said in a statement, which added that most of the allegations in the lawsuit were "untrue."
"The allegation that GM maintains a hostile work environment is false," it added.
William Selinsky, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the $7.4 billion it was seeking in punitive damages was based on the annual profits GM is believed to reap from its facilities in Pontiac.
GM makes some of its best-selling vehicles, including its Chevy Silverado pickup truck, at the facilities, northwest of Detroit.
But GM spokesman Tom Wickham, who called the price-tag attached to lawsuit "extremely puzzling," noted that GM does not report financial results for any one factory or plant.
In addition to punitive damages, the suit seeks $10 million in compensatory damages from GM.
Selinsky said he and other plaintiff attorneys would seek class-action status in the case and that hundreds of disgruntled GM workers may eventually become part of it.
Of the current 15 plaintiffs, one has never actually been a GM employee. He joined the suit because he applied for a job at the automaker, but was allegedly turned down because of his race.
GM agreed to pay $1.25 million in the New Jersey case. The largest settlement in a racial discrimination case was in 2000, when the Coca-Cola Co. agreed to pay $156 million to as many as 2,000 current and former black employees.
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