A jury has unanimously rejected claims by Boeing Co. workers who alleged the
company engaged in a pattern of discrimination against workers based on their
ethnicity, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
For a Limited Time receive a
FREE HR Report "Top 10 Best Practices in HR Management." This comprehensive special report will give you the information you need to know about these current HR challenges and how to most effectively manage them in your workplace.
Download NowIn the lawsuit, a group of workers from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Vietnam, India,
Pakistan, the Philippines, and Iran alleged the company's pay and promotion
policies were discriminatory. The workers also said they were subjected to ethnic
slurs and retaliation at their workplaces in Washington state.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik must still rule on whether Boeing's
policy had a "disparate impact" on the workers, the newspaper notes.
In "disparate impact" cases, plaintiffs argue that an employer's practice,
though neutral on its face, has had a disproportionate adverse impact on a protected
class.
Harish Bharti, an attorney for the plaintiffs, plans to appeal the jury's decision
based on the judge's instructions to the jury.
"My clients did not have a prayer, based on the erroneous jury instruction
telling jurors to ignore Boeing's conduct even if Boeing's compensation practices
were unfair, incorrect or unwise," says Bharti.
Link