DaimlerChrysler AG will go to trial in late March over employee claims
that it failed to control racial harassment in the workplace and other
offensive employee behavior that ultimately forced the automaker to
eliminate a shift at its Chelsea proving grounds. Bekele Gedion, a
native of Ethiopia and test engineer, and Jose Alva, a Hispanic
technician, accused the company of racial harassment in a lawsuit filed
in Washtenaw Circuit Court in February 2003, four years after they went
to work at the proving grounds. Washtenaw Circuit Court Judge Timothy
Connors dismissed some of the employee claims last year, but allowed
others to go forward. The trial is set for March 28. The case is one of
several lawsuits in recent years contending that Detroit's automakers
haven't stamped out racial and sexual harassment on the shop floor.
Gedion and Alva were hired in September 1999 and assigned to the
proving grounds unit that conducts vehicle crash tests and analyzes
seat belt and air bag performance. Soon after they started work, the
two men claim they were subjected to a series of harassing events,
including racial slurs. After the incidents were reported, the company
did nothing meaningful during a two-year investigation, they claim.
Chrysler denies any wrongdoing and says it maintains strict policies to
prevent harassment in the workplace. [more]
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