GNS In The News

Eight Sue SCE&G for Discrimination

DAVE L'HEUREUX, Staff Writer

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court alleges that South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. and its parent company, SCANA Corp., have long discriminated against black employees.

The lawsuit claims SCE&G regularly denied promotions to black employees and did little to counter racial insults and pranks by white co-workers. Several of the pranks involved mock hanging nooses.

SCANA spokesman Robin Montgomery called the allegations "unfounded" based on the company's previous investigations of the complaints.

"We believe these allegations have no merit," he said.

The lawsuit was filed by eight black SCE&G workers, whose tenures range from 10 to 30 years. Lawyers will seek court certification as a class action suit, said Columbia attorney Carl Solomon, who represents the plaintiffs.

"Each of these gentlemen has served his company faithfully," Solomon said at a news conference Wednesday. "They just want to be treated fairly."

The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, back pay and lost employment benefits for the eight plaintiffs, as well as court costs and fees.

SCANA attorneys have 20 days to respond, Solomon said.

Increasingly, large companies are being sued on claims of racial discrimination. The number of cases increased from 8,297 in 1990 to 21,157 in 2000, said Ann Reefman, general counsel for the Equal Employment Advisory Council in Washington, D.C.

"A lot of this comes from the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which added new kinds of money damages, including punitive and compensatory damages, to civil rights cases," Reefman said. "Companies hit with such suits usually settle because they have to look at both court costs, and their good will factor with the general public."

Cases in recent years have involved Xerox, Coca-Cola and Denny's. Many cases are settled, but Montgomery said SCANA will fight the accusations in court.

One of the eight plaintiffs, Alfred Bates, 33, of North Augusta, claimed SCE&G passed him over advancement, despite his 12 years with the company.

"I felt I was blocked several times by my supervisor," said Bates, a journeyman electrician. "My manager said SCE&G doesn't block people, but nobody would ever explain why I wasn't moving ahead."

Frank A. Dickerson, 47, of Columbia, said he and other plaintiffs discussed their concerns with management for more than a year without agreeing on remedies.

"We think it is justified to bring this action against them," said Dickerson. "SCE&G needs to account for the treatment of its employees."

Another plaintiff, Darnell Dobson, 35, of Irmo, claimed that top SCANA officials did little or nothing after three white SCE&G employees handed him a typewritten copy of a racially offensive joke in March 2000.

Dobson, who works in the SCE&G power delivery division, reported the incident. He said he named names, but later found that an SCE&G investigation was "inconclusive."

A second investigation undertaken at Dobson's insistence reportedly ended with one of the three white workers being transferred to another division.

"Nothing even happened to the other two guys," Dobson said.

SCANA's Montgomery said the company enforces a code of conduct that forbids racial taunts or discrimination.

"We have a full-time staff in place that thoroughly investigates any kind of inappropriate behavior in the workplace," he added. "And we take corrective action when warranted."

Montgomery said officials at the 5,600-employee energy holding company have had to deal with "isolated incidents" of racial discrimination, but had dealt with each on an individual basis.

He also said the company asks employees to report offensive incidents.

LITIGATION

Recent racial discrimination lawsuits involving U.S. companies:

December 2001: Twenty-one people file a $100 million federal lawsuit against Cracker Barrel restaurants.

Jan. 2001: A racial discrimination lawsuit against Microsoft is widened to seek class-action status and $5 billion in damages.

2000: Coca-Cola settles a class-action racial discrimination case for $192.5 million. 1999: Winn-Dixie Stores settles claims of racial discrimination for $33 million. 1996: Texaco settles a long-pending class-action lawsuit for $176.1 million.

1994: Denny's restaurant chain, a division of Spartanburg-based Flagstar Cos., agrees to pay $46 million to black customers and take steps to prevent future cases of racial bias.

1993: Shoney's settles a racial discrimination lawsuit for $132 million.

Dave L'Heureux covers utilities, telecommunications, agribusiness and tourism. Reach Dave at (803) 771-8463, by fax at (803) 771-8480 or by e-mail at dlheureux@thestate.com.

Reprinted from The State newspaper
January 31, 2002