Dell hit with $500m discrimination suit
'Old boys network'
Posted in Management, 3rd November 2008 10:18 GMT
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Four former senior Dell HR executives, all women, have filed a $500m class action that accuses the company of systemic gender and age discrimination.
The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, alleges Dell unfairly targeted women and employees over 40 in the big round of recent lay-offs, which sees 10 per cent of staff worldwide - about 8,800 in total - losing their jobs. The cull will result in men holding 80 per cent of management positions, according to the lawsuit.
Dell is also accused of "gross pay and promotion inequities" in its treatment of women.
The lawsuit seeks to change "Dell's discriminatory policies regarding pay, job placement, promotion, and termination. The lawsuit demands $500 million in damages for a class of thousands of current and former Dell female managers and executives, and older employees disproportionately affected by the company's mass layoffs in 2007 and 2008," law firm Sanford Wittels & Heisler said, in a press release.
Dell is an "old-boys network" with no women in its 14-strong top rank of executives, "This dearth of women at the highest reaches of the company sets the tone for women's poor representation in its upper-level professional and executive ranks, and helps explain the pay and promotion disparities women encounter at Dell," the lawsuit alleges.
According to David Sanford, class counsel, the case will be won on the statistical evidence. "The numbers don't lie. Once Dell produces its pay, promotion, and layoff records and statistics, we are confident the truth will come out and our clients' claims of discrimination will be vindicated."
A second, separate case, filed last week in Texas, claims Dell prevents women from advancing to senior positions and keeps them off training courses which would help them get such jobs. The case also seeks class action status - effectively opening it up to any Dell, or ex-Dell, staffer.®
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COMMENTS
Nothing more to be said
I think the first few posts here just about cover anything I wanted to say. Good show.
Equal opportunity and affirmative action
One wonders how employers can make statements like: "
Carnegie Mellon University is committed to equal employment opportunity for all, and to affirmative action.
"
http://www.cmu.edu/policies/documents/EEOAA.html
Google will find many such examples.
Either you practice Affirmative Action or equal opportunity. HTF can you practice both?
Sounds like a Palinism.
Shut up boys
...how long do you expect to keep getting your own way for? Stop whining.
Paris cos she knows what you can do with your sack.
HR Employees
In big companies are usually female, and incapable of assessing much more
than which guy most likely to come in his pants if he gets the job.
Hard competence and imagination are _very_ low on the list, which accounts
for the calibre of execs who have dominated American corps .over the last 40 years.
Fubar the Hak.
Paris, cuz she makes a virtue of knowing bugger all ;-)
I suspect a large number of AC posts on this thread...
...and here's mine...
Ok. Hands up, all of you guys who've worked in IT... Now, lower your hand if you've NEVER worked for a female middle-managment type, project manager, team leader, service centre manager etc.....
I see most hands are still up...
...now, lower your hands if that person was a competant, technical person....
..still most hands up....
...lower them if they were friendly, approachable and a valuable team-player....
...still mostly up....ah yes...
...lower them if they appeared to be in their job purely to provide a 'corporate-speak' buffer between you, the worker, and the Old Boys at the top of the company...
...Suddenly, all the hands go down I am willing to bet!
So, when a big company decides to make redundancies, they normally make them at the 'workforce' level, but occasionally, just occasionally, such as in this case, they cut them in the middle management layer. And 8/10 of them appear to be female.
Well, suprise, suprise!
I shall leave you to draw your own conclusions.
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