Viet Worker in Harassed and Fired in MA - Lubrizol Corp Sued for National Origin Discrimination:

EEOC Says Vietnamese-American Employee Taunted and had Work Sabotaged, and Co-worker Fired for Supporting Him

from a EEOC press release
9/28/06

BOSTON - Noveon, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Lubrizol Corporation, violated federal law by harassing an employee of Chinese and Vietnamese national origin, forcing him to quit, and terminating another employee who stood up for him, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

The EEOC’s lawsuit, EEOC v. The Lubrizol Corporation and Noveon, Inc., Civil Action No. 06-11734, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alleges that Truc La was taunted and had his work sabotaged at the companies’ Wilmington, MA, facility. For example, employees routinely verbally harassed La, ridiculing his accent and calling him "shorty," "truck la la la," "kid," "boy," and "Little Chinese." A coworker physically picked up La and threatened to dump him in a garbage can. Another harasser said that he was going to tell his uncle, a Vietnam vet, that "he f****d up and forgot to shoot one of them while he was over there."

The lawsuit also alleges that coworkers also placed foreign objects such as washers, hairnets, and colored pellets into the chemical mixture used by the machine La operated, hid tools La needed, spit on his equipment, and unplugged his machines. When La complained to his supervisors, he was instructed to fix the machines and keep working or quit.

After La was forced to quit and filed a charge of discrimination, another co-worker, Michael Richer, confirmed to an investigator from the companies that La had been a victim of sabotage and ridicule motivated by racial and ethnic prejudice. The lawsuit alleges that, one month after La’s principal harasser became Richer’s supervisor, he was fired on trumped up performance issues in retaliation for his having supported La’s claims.

Spencer H. Lewis, Jr., the EEOC’s New York District Director whose jurisdiction includes Massachusetts, said, "No employee should have to endure what Mr. La went through. It is particularly disturbing that, during a time when we should all be pulling together regardless of where we were born, this level of physical and verbal harassment still occurs."

Elizabeth Grossman, the EEOC’s New York District Regional Attorney, added, "Mr. Richer was fired for doing no more than telling the truth about how a fellow employee and human being had been mistreated. The EEOC will continue to work to ensure that this type of unlawful retaliation is eliminated from the workplace."