White man sues, alleging discrimination
http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1 ... hive&sec=1
November 16, 2006
White man sues, alleging discrimination
Accuser says company mistreats non-Hispanics
By DEEDEE CORRELL and PERRY SWANSON
A Colorado Springs man has sued his former employer, claiming the company discriminated against him because he is white.
Steven Pagel alleges in a federal lawsuit that Aspen Diversified Industries, an affiliate of the Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group, had a practice of removing whites from managerial positions and replacing them with Hispanics.
His suit, which also alleges the company permitted derogatory comments about whites, does not specify who Pagel felt was responsible for the alleged practices. Former Fountain Mayor Ken Barela, who is Hispanic, headed the company during Pagel’s time there.
Barela called the lawsuit baseless but said he couldn’t discuss it in detail.
“People can file lawsuits all day long — it doesn’t mean they’re true,” said Barela, who left Aspen Diversified earlier this year to start his own business.
Company officials did not comment.
Such reverse-discrimination lawsuits are rare, experts said.
Winning a discrimination lawsuit can be tricky for white people because courts require the plaintiff to show a pattern of biased treatment against whites, said Charles Passaglia, a Denver attorney who trains companies on compliance with civil rights laws.
“They’re very difficult cases to bring,” he said. “It’s not often that the majority group is singled out for discriminatory treatment.”
The cases are governed under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Passaglia said. The act doesn’t identify whites or any other racial group as a protected class but bans discrimination based on a person’s race. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973 the act protects Caucasians, Passaglia said.
In 1999, Pagel started working for Aspen Diversified, which offers jobs in maintenance, construction, furniture assembly and other services to disadvantaged and disabled workers. First a maintenance and construction supervisor, Pagel was promoted to director of engineering, according to his complaint.
“During the course of his employment, Mr. Pagel became aware of hostility towards Caucasians via derogatory statements made and a preference for Hispanic individuals. The vast majority of management was changed to individuals of Hispanic origin,” according to his complaint, filed in August 2005.
“ADI had a custom habit or practice of eliminating non-Hispanic individuals, particularly in management positions and replacing them with individuals of Hispanic origin,” according to the complaint.
When he raised allegations of fraudulent conduct in the company, Pagel says the company retaliated by offering him a lower-paying position and firing him when he refused it, according to his complaint. In 2004, Pagel filed a complaint with the District Attorney’s Office, accusing Barela of using the company to offer remodeling services for his friends and family at discounted prices. The district attorney did not file charges, citing insufficient evidence, and Aspen Diversified officials said the allegations were not true.
“ADI has never given inappropriate or illegal discounts for services,” said Cynthia Doty, spokeswoman for the Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group.
None of Pagel’s claims is true, said John Rapisarda, who was Pagel’s supervisor at Aspen Diversified.
Rapisarda, who no longer works there, said he compiled a breakdown of the racial makeup of managers over two years, and by the time Barela left, the percentage of Hispanics in management had declined.
“It doesn’t support anything he’s saying, that there’s a systematic method of replacing non-Hispanics,” said Rapisarda, who compiled the information for his court deposition.
Rapisarda said he wanted to move Pagel from construction director to director of construction sales, a job for which Pagel was better suited. The pay was the same, he said.
“This is a Caucasian guy trying to laterally transfer a Caucasian guy,” he said.
Pagel couldn’t be reached for comment, and his attorney declined to comment.
A pretrial conference is scheduled for December.
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0285 or
reverse discrimination suitsa can be won
Quote:
Originally Posted by dyehard39
NEGLIGENCE IN LAW;
“Actionable negligence” or “negligence in law” grows out of nonobservance of a duty prescribed by law.
ALIEN ENEMY;
This is easy. If an American is fired or layed-off all you need is a discrimination attorney and the plaintiff in this case will winn big time. Lawman
1.
At my previous employer the (white) VP was terminated. He was to be replaced by a Japanese manager, newly arrived from Japan. I don't have all the details since the VP signed a non disclosure agreement, but I know he won his law suit. He may have also used age discrimmination, since he was within a couple of years of retiring, I would guess he replacement was younger.
I suspect the law suit was settled out of court. Japanes companies typically shy away from lawsuits. A couple of years later the company fired a second white manager. He used the same lawyer and also won his suit. He's now retired in FL.
Three years ago the company implemented a larger force reduction. In order to get our small severance, we had to sign an agreement not to sue them. With 15 yrs, my severance was larger than the ave package. I signed it and left on good terms with everyone.
