Benefits March 30, 2006

Diversity Manager Fired for Actions Against Discrimination

March 30, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that a diversity manager, whose responsibilities included increasing diversity and improving the reporting on such matters to federal agencies, was fired by Honda America for her outspokenness against racial discrimination at the company.
Reported by

The Associated Press reports that Monica Ways was senior manger for diversity at Honda America’s US manufacturing operations in Ohio. The EEOC says she protested numerous instances of conduct she found discriminatory, including a case in which Ways intervened on behalf of a qualified black engineer who was not hired.

According to the lawsuit, she was fired in retaliation in 2004, the AP said. Honda says the claims are without merit and Ways’ firing was appropriate.

The suit seeks back pay and other monetary damages and asks that Ways be given either her old job back or additional “front pay.”

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