07/24/00- Updated 10:08 AM ET





Race issues shake tech world
What looks like meritocracy can brim with bias

By Edward Iwata, USA TODAY

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The ugly images seem incongruous with the highflying, high-tech world often touted as the ultimate meritocracy, where talent counts more than skin color.

But racial discrimination appears to have found a home there, too, minority employees contend. Consider these racial discrimination lawsuits and complaints filed with state and federal agencies:

At 3Com, a veteran telecommunications manager who is black was shunned by his bosses and given a desk alone in a chilly backroom with computer equipment. The day after his lawyer called the company to request a mediation meeting, he was fired.

At NEC Electronics, a white manager waved a 6-foot bullwhip at meetings, confiding to a colleague that she used it to keep black employees in line, according to former NEC workers. White managers at the company frequently spewed racial slurs, legal filings allege.

At Oracle, a seasoned manager, who is Hispanic, was allegedly berated by her bosses and given minor tasks, from fetching coffee to typing name tags. After she was fired, it took months of therapy for her to regain her confidence.

More than a generation after the civil-rights movement swept the nation, legal and diversity experts contend the technology field is troubled by racist, hostile workplaces and blatant discrimination in the hiring and promotion of African-Americans and Hispanics.

''Clearly, (racial) discrimination is still a problem in the workplace, and technology is no exception,'' says Angela Alioto, a San Francisco attorney representing former employees suing NEC for discrimination and retaliation.

A major study last year of 250 Silicon Valley firms employing 142,000 workers found that 4% were black and 8% were Hispanic, reports John Templeton, co-founder of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Silicon Valley. In the San Francisco Bay Area, blacks and Hispanics make up 8% and 14% of the workforce, the Labor Department finds. ''Our patience has worn thin,'' Templeton says. ''It's unconscionable that their (hiring) numbers are so ridiculously low.''

A groundswell of legal and political activity on the issue of discrimination has spread nationwide to gleaming technology parks and corporate campuses:

In recent months, high-tech firms have been hit with dozens of lawsuits and complaints alleging racial discrimination. In the largest case, dozens of an expected 300 current and former employees of Nextel Communications have filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charging racial and sexual discrimination. Nextel has declined comment until the firm completes its investigation.

Class-action law firms are hungry to sign on technology workers who feel they've suffered from racism. ''This may well be the next hot area for class actions,'' says Steve Sidener, a lawyer at Gold Bennett Cera & Sidener in San Francisco.

The political heat is rising in the high-tech, anti-discrimination arena. On Saturday, 100 people filled Emmanuel Baptist Church here for a workplace-rights seminar sponsored by the Coalition for Fair Employment, the NAACP and the EEOC. Minority workers in business attire shed a few tears and shared tales of anger about slamming into the glass ceiling at their Silicon Valley companies.

On Capitol Hill, the National Urban League and other black leaders are fighting the government's plans to double to 200,000 the number of H-1B visas for high-tech foreign workers. They argue that technology firms seeking to hire immigrants are ignoring well-qualified blacks and Hispanics at home. According to the Labor Department, there are 583,000 black and Hispanic engineers, computer scientists and technicians in the United States.

Activist Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition continue to lobby for more hiring and training of blacks and Hispanics. In recent visits to Silicon Valley, Jackson has met with Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, Intel CEO Craig Barrett, Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and other power brokers.

The EEOC is on the prowl. Criticized as a paper tiger in the high-tech field, the EEOC appears to be hunting more closely for workplace discrimination in Silicon Valley. The agency recently beefed up its San Francisco district office, nearly doubling its staff to 50 investigators and lawyers.

David Grinberg, an EEOC spokesman, denies it is targeting technology firms and says it investigates discrimination claims in all industries. But employment-law attorneys and government regulators say privately that race and age discrimination complaints by high-tech workers are slowly rising. And, as it does in other industries, the EEOC hopes to ''send a message'' by taking on a large Silicon Valley firm or two.

Are claims 'absurd'?

High-tech boosters hail their industry as one where vision and hard work are richly rewarded, regardless of race or ethnicity. Given the critical shortage of technology workers, anyone who can write software code can land a good job, they argue. ''Sure, there are individual cases of discrimination, but to claim there's widespread racial bias in our industry is just absurd,'' says T.J. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor in San Jose and an outspoken critic of affirmative action.

Industry cheerleaders also point to the many firms — Cisco, IBM, Gateway, Applied Materials and others — that work hard on the digital divide issue. They fund scholarships for thousands of minorities and give money and computers to inner-city schools and training projects. They note that groups including the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers are working more closely with high-tech firms on recruiting, training and other issues. ''We're making progress, but a lot more needs to be done,'' says Leticia Vidal, executive director of the Hispanic engineers' group in Los Angeles.

But critics say that companies also must deal with racial attitudes deeply embedded in corporate cultures and managers. ''Silicon Valley prides itself on being a unique meritocracy, but of course there's discrimination there just as there is in every other industry,'' says Butch Wing, a spokesman for the Rainbow/PUSH coalition.

A shocking dismissal

Lindsay Brown, a tall, friendly man from Sioux City, Iowa, speaks proudly of his career accomplishments and his family. Before joining 3Com in 1998, he had worked 25 years for IBM, Rolm and Siemens as a telecommunications manager.

At 3Com, he was hired as a telecom analyst and promised management duties and training. He was told he would be a valued member of the team. Instead, he was ignored and given menial tasks, according to Brown; his attorney, Doris Nehme; and state legal records. He was not invited to project meetings. He was reprimanded for taking time off for his stepmother's funeral and another family emergency, even though bosses had approved the days off. He was shunted to work alone at a desk in a cold computer room although there was space in the main office, according to the filing.

Last August, Brown strolled into work and tried unsuccessfully to log on to his computer. A few minutes later, a shocked Brown was told by his bosses that he had been fired.

''I felt humiliated,'' says Brown, speaking at his three-bedroom ranch home in Sunnyvale. ''I had never heard of anyone else at 3Com being treated this way.''

Brown hired an attorney and filed a complaint with the California Fair Employment and Housing Department, alleging discrimination, retaliation and harassment by four bosses at 3Com. He also requested right-to-sue notices to clear the way for a civil lawsuit.

Todd Irwin, a 3Com spokesman, denies that Brown was the target of discriminatory treatment. In a written statement, 3Com says Brown was fired ''after careful consideration of his performance and after repeated written and verbal warnings. 3Com does not discriminate. Our culture and values as a company are so strongly supportive of respecting diversity, we are confident anyone who knows our company will know this is an inaccurate charge.''

3Com declined to release the racial breakdown of its staff, but Labor Department data from 1996 show that 3% of its 3,800 employees were black, 6% Hispanic and 20% Asian. About 14% of its managers were minorities.

Brown and his lawyer say they plan to sue in federal court soon. Brown, who is unemployed, estimates the firing cost him $100,000 in lost salary, benefits and stock options. ''I do not want to use race as a crutch, but I had to fight this,'' Brown says. ''My mother was a devout Baptist, and she taught us the ethos of hard work. She also taught us to stand our ground if we believe we're right.''

Passed over for promotion

For two decades, Eugene Shands, a burly former Marine, toiled first as a cop and an assistant dean of students at University of California at Santa Barbara, then as a security manager at Amdahl. When he landed a plum job as NEC's security director in 1990, he thought he would retire at the San Jose company.

But problems started surfacing. Nearly every day at NEC's offices and warehouses, white managers and employees uttered racial and sexual slurs, including many that are too vulgar to be published here, according to lawsuits. Despite his experience and glowing job reviews, Shands — who is black and Hispanic — was passed over several times for promotions by whites with less experience, the lawsuits say.

The most startling incidents involved a former warehouse manager who kept a bullwhip in her office, former NEC workers say. She strode across the warehouse snapping the whip; she took it to staff meetings. ''Get to work!'' she yelled. When Shands asked her why she had it, he says she replied, ''To keep my colored boys in line. That's what they understand.'' Shands, who was mailed the whip anonymously, says, ''I couldn't believe this manager was saying these things.''

Mark Pearce, an NEC spokesman, declined to address the allegations but confirmed the problem with the manager's bullwhip. ''It's true that several years ago, we had a serious but isolated situation in the company. We carried out a thorough, independent investigation and took decisive, responsible action.''

The manager and another supervisor were fired after NEC's investigation, according to the lawsuits. The manager could not be reached for comment. But the racial slurs continued. Shands also alleged that his new NEC boss undercut his authority, piled on impossible work assignments and set him up for failure.

Shands lodged a complaint with the EEOC in 1997. A month later, he was fired. NEC accused him of falsifying his résumé with bogus police and educational credentials. Shands showed USA TODAY original documents and certificates corroborating his credentials.

After months of receiving treatment for depression, Shands wants his day in court. He has sued NEC in federal court for racial discrimination, breach of contract and retaliation. NEC's Pearce declines to comment on the lawsuit. He says that NEC — a Japanese-owned company based in Tokyo — is a ''mini-United Nations'' that trains employees to respect different cultures. Managers who engage in discriminatory actions are disciplined appropriately, he says.

That doesn't appease Shands. ''I'm still angry. I had a pretty good reputation in this Valley. Now it's at rock bottom. I want a jury to hear my story.''

From a bonus to being fired

Maria Flores, a Honduran woman who was born in a Central American fishing village and raised in New York City, was hired in 1996 by Oracle after 15 years at IBM as a technical trainer and sales manager.

Developing training programs for salespeople, Flores did well her first year. She got a big raise, a bonus and a glowing performance review, according to her legal documents. During a corporate reshuffling the next year, Flores ended up with a new boss. Suddenly, Flores could do no right. According to her EEOC complaint and lawsuit against Oracle, she was given menial tasks, such as sharpening pencils. She says she was made the scapegoat of a poorly conceived project that flopped. And while eight white colleagues on her team with less experience were promoted, Flores alleges that she was ''criticized, belittled and treated differently from non-minority employees.''

In December 1997, her manager wrote up Flores and told her she needed to improve her performance. A month later, Oracle fired her. In court filings, Oracle's law firm, Keesal Young & Logan, deny the charges raised by Flores. A statement from Oracle also says Flores' allegations are ''without any merit.'' Flores was hired over two white job applicants, the statement reads, and the actions taken against her ''were in no way based on her race or ancestry.''

Oracle says the company enjoys a reputation as one of the best high-tech companies on diversity issues. Oracle actively recruits minorities, sponsors dozens of minority career conferences and recently donated $700,000 to the United Negro College Fund.

The fast-growing firm also appears to have hired more minorities in recent years. In 1996, minorities made up 26% of its workforce of 12,000 and 9% of its managers, according to the Labor Department. Today, 32% of its workforce of 44,000 and 25% of its managers are minorities, Oracle says.

Flores still was devastated by her firing. She sought comfort from friends and a counselor. She flew to Honduras for a month, visiting relatives in the fishing village and taking long walks with her elderly father.

''After all of my hard work, I did not deserve to be treated so shabbily by Oracle,'' she says. ''They had no legal or moral right to deny me the fruits of my labor.''