Nissan employees allege racial harassment
Andrew Glazer
COSTA MESA -- Five minority employees of Nissan Motor Corp.’s
Southwestern headquarters here filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging
supervisors virtually ignored their complaints of repeated racial and
sexual harassment.
A Nissan spokeswoman, who said she still hadn’t seen the lawsuit, refused
to comment.
Imad Awad, 36, of Irvine; Jose Mario Hernandez, 40, of Santa Ana; Bruce
Lane, 38, of Santa Ana; Piyush Solanki, 36, of Corona; and Virsen
Worlikar, 44, of Rancho Santa Margarita all allege Nissan employees
called them derogatory names and left threatening letters.
“It’s very stressful working in a discriminatory environment,” said
Solanki, who is of Indian descent, in a prepared statement. He said he
found a letter in his locker at work calling him a “Lazy Indian.”
“It has affected me and my personal life in many ways. Always living with
the fear inside of ‘what if they retaliate against me and fire me?’ ”
Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, who defended the Brown family in the
O.J. Simpson murder trial, is representing the five employees of the
parts distribution department.
“This is a very important case,” she said.
Awad, who was born in Jordan, alleged he found a note in his locker
showing a noose hanging in front of a head with his name on it. A
sketched gun fired bullets toward the head.
He also alleges a supervisor touched, hugged and grabbed him in his groin
area and buttocks almost every day, according to a written statement
prepared by Allred.
And he said co-workers once left bags of urine on his tools. When he
asked management to test the urine, they threw the bags away, he said.
“I personally have been humiliated, insulted and degraded by the
discriminatory comments and racial hate notes,” he said in a prepared
statement.
Jose Mario Hernandez, who is Latino, said he received a note in his
locker depicting a swastika.
Bruce Lane, who is black, alleges co-workers called him “boy.” And he
said they twice threw his paycheck and mouse pad on the ground and told
him to “go fetch.”
Nissan has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.
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