Detroit Edison

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• Allegations of race, sex, and age discrimination and sexual harassment
• A history of discrimination
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• News Release

Allegations of race, sex, and age discrimination and sexual harassment at Detroit Edison:

• Female employees say that supervisors called them derogatory names, viewed pornography in their presence, and touched them inappropriately.
• African American employees say they were exposed to racially offensive jokes and feared they would be retaliated against if they complained.
• According to the lawsuit, Arab Americans have also been called derogatory names.
• African Americans and other minorities hold less than 12% of Edison’s power plant jobs, according to the lawsuit. Over 98% of plant management is white.
• Hangman’s nooses were hung in the plants near locations where African Americans work, say employees.

A history of discrimination:

1975- The suit filed in 1971 is settled for $5 million. More African Americans and women are hired throughout the company.

1993- A class action suit is filed on behalf of minorities, women, and older workers who were demoted or terminated during a company reorganization.

1997- Three more class action lawsuits for race, national origin, age and sex discrimination are filed
.
1998- Three lawsuits are settled on behalf of 3,500 white-collar workers for $17 million.

1998- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finds Detroit Edison guilty of sex discrimination practices, and fined the company $500,000.

1998- A class action suit is filed on behalf of women, minorities, and older workers, who were not involved in the reorganization (see 1993) and held mostly blue collar jobs.

. . . not one Detroit Edison manager or supervisor has been fired as a result of these allegations and lawsuits.

Detroit Edison CEO Anthony Early, Jr. has said about these allegations, “I can’t fix what went wrong 15 or 20 years ago.  I’m sorry they occurred.”

Plant workers allege that harassment and discrimination is still occurring in 1999.