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Wednesday, June 23, 1999
Maine lags in workplace diversity
By BARBARA WALSH
Staff Writer
Copyright © 1999 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
When Maine minority workers complain about discrimination, it's commonly about subtle racism like unfair wages, lost promotions or a job denied. But sometimes the racism is blatant.
People of color are called ugly names. They find threats on the walls of their workplace or on their lockers.
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When it comes to diversity in the workplace, Maine falls far below the rest of the country, a factor that may contribute to racial problems.
Nationally, according to census estimates, minorities make up 21 percent of the civilian workforce. In New England, they represent 9 percent. In Maine, minority workers total less than 2 percent.
"The lack of diversity is so acute it makes it hard for everybody," says David Webbert, an Augusta lawyer who specializes in work discrimination cases. "Folks in Maine are pretty enlightened and tolerant, but they have few experiences dealing with people of color, so they rely on stereotypes. I think they're much more inclined to think the worst."
Many Maine companies also lack clear policies on racial bias, Webbert says. Employers are often reluctant to suspend or fire a worker who makes racial slurs, yet that same employee would likely lose his job if he made sexual comments to a female co-worker.
"Companies are a lot more worried about sexual harassment," Webbert says. "You don't see a lot of diversity training."
When racial discrimination isn't resolved in the workplace it sometimes ends up in court, where the employer may be ordered to pay hefty settlements.
In October 1996, a federal jury awarded $1.6 million to a Japanese-American man who was fired after he complained that his supervisor was racist.
Hideaki Nakai had worked at Wickes Lumber in Portland for 22 years. He had an excellent work record and had been named top nationwide manager for the lumber company three times. But his evaluations dropped to unsatisfactory soon after he asked the lumber company to investigate his supervisor, who had called Nakai a derogatory name.
The lumber company ordered Nakai's boss to apologize but allowed him to continue supervising Nakai. Four months later, that same supervisor recommended that Nakai be fired.
Last fall, taxpayers paid $250,000 to a Jamaican woman after she sued the Lubec School Board for illegally firing her and calling her racist names.
The school board hired Bernice Magnus-Brown to work as their principal and superintendent from January 1995 through June 1998.
In her lawsuit, Brown accused the school board director of muttering nasty slurs during meetings. The same director and two board members voted to terminate Brown's contract two years early.
"Race was a major issue in the case," says Sumner Lipman, Brown's Augusta attorney. "There aren't too many people of color in Washington County. There was no way she was going to survive in Lubec even if she did have a Ph.D."
The Maine Human Rights Commission investigates discrimination cases like Brown's.
During the past 10 years, 538 racial discrimination complaints, involving work and housing, were filed with commission. How many of those had merit is unclear. Some of the cases end up going before a civil jury instead of the commission. Others are settled before the commission completes an investigation.
Here are some of the cases in which the commission found discrimination:
Edward Burrage versus East Coast Steel.
Complaint filed: February 1994.
Burrage's supervisor repeatedly told Burrage that he was hired to fill a minority quota and "a black man can't do a white man's job."
At the end of Burrage's breaks, his boss used racial terms in ordering him back to work. And when the lights were out at work, his boss told Burrage: "Smile, Ed, we can't see you."
Co-workers told Burrage they were going to chop his feet off and beat him "like Kunta Kinte," referring to the slave depicted in the television mini-series "Roots."
Burrage protested to his supervisors but the company did not stop the harassment.
In January 1994, Burrage was fired for not wearing safety glasses while grinding steel.
In August 1994, the Human Rights Commission found that Burrage had been racially harassed, wrongfully fired and subjected to unfair treatment because of his skin color.
Vincent Thomas versus Falcon Shoe Manufacturing Co.
Complaint filed: June 4, 1996
Thomas is a black man from Jamaica. He worked from March 13, 1995, to May 21, 1996, at Falcon Shoe in Lewiston. During the last four months that he was employed, Thomas said he was harassed daily by his foreman and co-workers. His foreman called him a racial name on many occasions, telling him to shut up and threatening to kill him. His co-workers also taunted Thomas. One employee harassed him daily, even threatening to have sex with Thomas' 9-year-old daughter.
Falcon Shoe said Thomas reported the abuse once. Managers warned crew members to stop taunting Thomas or they'd be fired.
Thomas said the abuse continued and he reported it several more times but the company did nothing.
On May 21, 1996, the day Thomas was fired, his boss asked him to unplug a valve line. Thomas refused. His boss called him a racist name and told him: "when you're told to do something, you're supposed to do it." Thomas got angry and later threatened to cut his boss up with a machete.
The Human Rights Commission found Falcon Shoe at fault for allowing a hostile, demeaning and abusive work environment to persist. The commission also ruled that Thomas had been illegally fired because was provoked into a confrontation after being subjected to months of harassment.
Steven Smith versus United Parcel Service
Complaint filed: Jan. 23, 1996
Steven Smith is black. He worked at the Portland branch of UPS from April 13, 1994 through Oct. 31, 1995. Smith worked as a part-time supervisor, hoping to get hired full-time. He knew that before he could get promoted the company required him to work as a driver delivering packages.
Though he frequently asked about becoming a driver, he said UPS ignored his requests. In September 1995, a white part-time supervisor was offered a job as a driver. Smith asked his boss about the job and was told that no such job existed; he was discouraged from seeking such a position.
Smith eventually quit, believing he had no future at UPS.
In his complaint to the human rights commission, Smith noted that while minorities make up 11 percent of UPS employees nationwide, only 5.4 percent are part-time supervisors and 2.5 full-time supervisors. The commission found that it was likely Smith had been denied promotions because he was black.
Edwin Bones versus Car Test Facilities
Complaint filed: July 19, 1995
Edwin Bones is Hispanic. He worked from April 1994 to March 24, 1995, for Car Test Facilities, a company that performed emissions testing statewide. Bones managed the company's Westbrook testing site.
His boss constantly questioned him about phone bills, accusing him of making personal long-distance calls. Bones was twice accused of stealing money from the company safe. "My supervisor told me, 'You people are used to doing stuff like this,' " Bones said. "When I asked him what do you mean 'you people?' he said, 'You know what I mean.' " Bones complained to his supervisor's boss about the harassment. He was told the company wasn't going to address his concerns because the company was closing.
The human rights commission agreed in January 1997 that Bones had been treated unfairly because of his race.
Reginald Washby versus National Semiconductor
Complaint filed: August 22, 1996
Washby believed National Semiconductor refused to hire him because he was black. The South Portland company invited Washby to a job fair in January 1994. He was the only black person among 13 candidates who applied for a job and took a math test.
The company said Washby didn't do well on the test and didn't have manufacturing experience. Instead it hired five white candidates. One of them also had difficulty with the math test. Four others, like Washby, didn't have any manufacturing experience.
The Human Rights Commission believed that race played a role in the company's decision not to hire Washby. It noted that of the 1,000 employees working at National Semiconductor at the time, none were black. "In this day and age no one is going to say that race was a factor in a hiring decision," the state investigator wrote. "For decision-makers the bias may be so subtle that it is virtually undetectable. It is not a conscious condition but one programmed by culture." Janice Leigh versus So Fro Fabrics Store
First complaint filed: Aug. 2, 1991.
Leigh, who is black, worked at the store from 1989 through August 1991. Despite good evaluations, Leigh believed she was unfairly denied a promotion to assistant manager. A white woman, who worked at another fabric store with less experience than Leigh, got the job instead. The Human Rights Commission concluded that the fabric store ignored its own policy of promoting employees from within the company and failed to promote Leigh because she was black. The commission also noted that there were no minority managers or assistant managers working at the fabric chain's 15 New England stores.
Second complaint filed: Aug. 11, 1992.
After winning her first case, Leigh said her supervisor repeatedly gave her bad and unfair evaluations and ultimately fired her on May 1, 1992. Leigh was criticized for being late to work once and talking to her insurance agent on company time about her stolen car. The company said it fired Leigh because sales slipped in the department where Leigh worked.
The commission agreed that Leigh was unfairly reprimanded out of retaliation. But it disagreed that she was fired for discriminatory reasons.