Blacks File $5 Billion Bias Suit Against Microsoft

Seven current and former Black employees of Microsoft Corporation recently filed a $5 billion lawsuit against the powerhouse computer company claiming discrimination and racial bias.

The 66-page complaint alleges discrimination in evaluations, compensation, promotions, wrongful termination and retaliation.

The suit filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., builds on a discrimination suit brought in June by Rahn D. Jackson, a former account executive for Microsoft. Jackson's complaint was refiled to include the six other plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs are four former employees from Microsoft's office in the District of Columbia and two former and one current employee at its headquarters in Redmond, WA.

In a recent news conference Jackson said that he had raised his concerns with Microsoft before filing his suit, but that he received little response.

The case is scheduled to be heard by Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who presided over the government's antitrust case against Microsoft and ordered the company to split into two parts. Microsoft is appealing that ruling.

Deborah Willingham, vice president for human resources at Microsoft, said the company was "100 percent committed to diversity." She declined to comment on the specific complaint because she had not yet reviewed it at JET press time.

Willie E. Gary, the plaintiffs' lead attorney, said the high figure for damages--which includes both compensatory and punitive damages--is commensurate with Microsoft's size.

"What is $5 billion to Microsoft?" Gary said. "You have to hit them in the pocket."

Gary added, "There are glass ceilings and glass walls in place for African Americans at Microsoft."

Gary presented employment figures that he said supported the complaint. In 1999, 2.6 percent of the company's employees were Black said 1.6 percent of them were managers. Gary said that he gathered the figures by speaking to Microsoft employees and from internal company documents.

However, Willingham said that "Microsoft has a zero-tolerance policy toward discrimination in the workplace." She added that, "We take any allegations of discrimination very seriously, and immediately investigate any concern that is raised."

This is not the only lawsuit contending racial bias at Microsoft. In October, Monique Donaldson, a former program manager for Microsoft, filed a lawsuit against the company claiming racial and gender bias; that lawsuit is pending in federal district court in Seattle.

And Peter Browne, who had been Microsoft's highest-ranking Black executive before leaving the company in September, filed a discrimination lawsuit shortly after his departure.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Johnson Publishing Co.
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