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Benefits April 21, 2006
Former Lilly Employees File Suit That Claims Racial Discrimination
April 21, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A class action
race discrimination complaint was filed against
pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. in an Indiana US
District Court over allegations that the firm's African
American employees are treated differently than white
employees in pay and promotional opportunities.
Reported by Adrien Martin
The plaintiffs claim that pay for African American
employees is less than their white peers, and that white
employees were more often groomed for promotions and
bonuses than their African American peers, according to a
press release.
The suit asks the court to enter a judgment awarding
plaintiffs back pay and other loss of income and benefits,
and compensatory and punitive damages to be determined by a
jury
One plaintiff, Cassandra Welch, worked her way up through administrative positions in Lilly’s finance department, while serving on executive management project teams. In late 1999 Lilly was promoted to a higher-level position in Indiana, where she claims she was paid well below what she was promised as a business consultant, while her white peers were paid higher.
Welch said her effort to got through the internal
process brought no relief to the issue, and was then told
her position would be eliminated and she would have to
compete for another position within the company. She was
assigned a new position, but still without the pay she
was promised, and then was fired, she alleges, on the
false terms that she altered an email that had nothing to
do with the company.
The second plaintiff, Raynard Tyson, who spent five years
as a sales representative for Lilly in North Carolina,
claims he did not get the pay and promotions that were
given to his white colleagues, despite Tyson’s high sales
performance. After Tyson’s filing of an internal EEO
complaint prompted a “thorough investigation” that voided
his claim of racial discrimination, he left for another
job.
“I proved my ability to sell product for Lilly better
than several people who were paid more and were promoted
ahead of me,” Tyson said in his claim with the district
court. “A company that allows its managers to favor one
race over another needs to change. I am bringing this in
the hope that it will help the company open the full
range of opportunities to its African American
employees.”
Charges by other class members are currently pending at
the EEOC, according to a news release about the suit
filing.