Complaint Review: Dell - Dell Computers

I went to interview for a corporate security job at Dell Computer, Inc, that was being handled by a private security guard contracting agency. While I was referred to another lower, more precarious job, I learned later that I was not assigned to the security detail at Dell because I was "over 30 years old, I was a woman and I didn't have 'the youthful appearance' that the Dell Corporation wanted.

Unfortunately the statute of limitations had expired when I learned of the criteria for being one of their UNARMED parking lot security officers or I might have been tempted to sue for DISCRIMINATION. Besides, the local high tech industry was melting down anyway and hundreds of people in that industry were being fired.

So you think that I would be smirking because of this latest news from Dell since some of these people MIGHT have been the ones who passed on the order that they wanted more "Youthful Appearances" standing on their hot parking lots " because what goes around comes around."

Unfortunately, the same rain falls upon the just and the unjust alike and what this lawsuit is doing is exposing the CUSTOMARY way that Austin,Texas ( Round Rock where Dell is Headquartered
is contiguous with the Austin city limits, indeed, some of it actually falls in Travis County now.!

GENDER AND AGE DISCRIMINATION IS THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRET OF AUSTIN,TEXAS AREA EMPLOYERS and except for a few "tokens" IS A GENERALLY ACCEPTED PRACTICE AND THE EEOC DOES NOTHING.

So DELL'S DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES FINALLY COME TO LIGHT!

Discrimination at Dell alleged again

2 days ago

AUSTIN,Texas A former human resources manager at Dell Inc. has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the computer company, the second such complaint this week.

Jill Hubley, who worked until September 2007 as a senior strategist in the Dell Americas human resources group, filed the lawsuit claiming gender discrimination Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Austin.

In the lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, Hubley accuses Dell of engaging in "a pattern and practice of gender discrimination with respect to compensating and promoting female employees," the Austin American-Statesman reported in Friday's online edition.

Dell spokesman David Frink said he was not familiar with the Austin filing.

Four former human-resources managers at Dell also filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, CALIFORNIA asking a judge to turn it into a class action covering thousands of former and current workers at Dell, which is based in Round Rock, Texas.

The former managers, Mildred Chapman, Angela Hopkins, Julia Mahaffey and Bethany Riches, accuse the company of paying men higher wages for equal work and failing to fairly promote women to higher positions. Austin resident Chapman, 59, also accused the company of disproportionately laying off workers older than 40 after it began cutting 9,000 jobs last year.

Dell denied the accusations.

The lawsuit noted there are no women in the company's highest tier of executives. Frink has said the San Francisco lawsuit was "without merit" and said the company doesn't tolerate discrimination in any form.

"We take any claim against our recognized efforts to embrace diversity and equal employment seriously," Frink has said.

Dell employs about 80,000 people worldwide.

* OCTOBER 30, 2008

Former Staffers Sue Dell, Alleging Discrimination

Four former Dell Inc. middle managers sued the computer maker Wednesday, alleging the company discriminates against female employees and older workers.

The plaintiffs seek class status for current and former women managers and for middle managers older than 40. The class could number "in the thousands," said plaintiff lawyer Steven Wittels. A complaint filed in San Francisco federal court says the plaintiffs are seeking $500 million from Dell.

Former Dell executives sue over sex discrimination
Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:01pm EDT

LOS ANGELES,CA (Reuters) - Female former top executives of Dell have sued their ex-employer, the world's second-largest computer maker, alleging gender discrimination and seeking $500 million in damages.

The Texas-based multinational technology company, whose top 14 executives are male, unfairly laid off four former senior female employees in the job cuts earlier this year, said the suit seeking class action status and filed in a federal court in California on Wednesday.

"We believe the claims of this suit are without merit," Dell spokesman David Frink told Reuters.

"Dell does not tolerate discrimination in any aspect of employment and we'll vigorously defend any claims that we are not acting in accordance with the law or our policies," he said, declining to give additional details.

The lawsuit demands $500 million in damages on behalf of female and older former Dell employees, who they say were singled out during recent layoffs and systematically discriminated against.

"At Dell, it is an understatement to say that women face a glass ceiling -- Dell's glass ceiling is made of concrete," said Steven L. Wittels, class counsel in the case and founding partner of Sanford Wittels & Heisler LLP.

Nearly 80 percent of the top executives in Dell are male, the lawsuit said. Dell declined to comment on that figure, although its website says women and people of color represent 32 percent of its U.S.-based vice presidents.

The plaintiffs were repeatedly passed up for promotions and increased pay despite receiving good performance reviews, the suit said.

Wittels said he expected Dell to say that the action came too late, since federal law puts a time limit on such suits. This has become an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, especially after Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have removed such time constraints in pay-discrimination claims.

Despite laws prohibiting unequal pay for equal work, women in the United States are paid about 22 percent less than men on an average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Recent layoffs at Dell unfairly targeted women and workers over age 40, and the company discriminates against women in pay and promotions, according to a new lawsuit filed by four former human-resources managers at the computer maker.


The four former HR executives at Dell are seeking US$500 million in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The four women alleged that the company and its "old boy network" discriminated against women in pay, job placement, promotions and layoffs.

Dell in May 2007 announced plans to lay off about 8,800 workers, about 10 percent of its workforce. Those layoffs unfairly targeted women and older workers, and more than 80 percent of Dell's upper management is now male, the lawsuit alleges.

"While Dell publicly proclaims a commitment to diversity as 'an essential element of our corporate values,' the reality fails to live up to the rhetoric," Steven Wittels, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. "At Dell, it is an understatement to say that women face a glass ceiling; Dell's glass ceiling is made of concrete."

Each of the four plaintiffs allege that they have lost more than $1 million in salary and other benefits due to Dell's discrimination. The plaintiffs will produce statistical evidence in the case, said Wittels, of the Sanford Wittels and Heisler law firm.

A call to Dell's media hotline was not immediately returned.

Dell's diversity Web page says that more than half of the company's employees are women or minorities. A third of the company's workforce are women, and 32 percent of the company's U.S. vice presidents are women or minorities, the page says.

"Dell's diversity programs give us access to the broadest pool of employees, which the company needs to meet the demands of its growing customer base," the Web site says. "We recognize, of course, that this is always unfinished business. We actively recruit diverse talent and offer diverse employees tools to promote advancement."

The company has received a number of awards for its diversity programs.

Former senior HR manager Bethany Riches, one of the plaintiffs, was told in an e-mail by Dell Vice President Michael Summers that she shouldn't assume she's personally responsible if she had problems "breaking into arguably one of the toughest old boy networks," according to a press release about the lawsuit. Riches and other female HR managers were repeatedly denied promotions promised to them, the lawsuit alleges.

Another former senior HR manager, Mildred Chapman, was repeatedly denied promotions or pay increases although her responsibilities equaled or exceeded those of younger male directors, the lawsuit alleges. Chapman was laid off from Dell in April.


Old-Boy Dell Sued For $500 Million For Sex, Age Discrimination| October 30, 2008 3:47 PM

Former Dell HR executive Jan Chapman, laid off in April, says that during her tenure the company repeatedly passed her over for promotions, giving them to younger, less qualified men instead.

Chapman and three others have filed a class action suit against the company and are seeking $500 million in damages.

Fellow plaintiff Bethany Riches says her supervisor told her that, with her now-halted ascent up the Dell ladder, she was "breaking into arguably one of the toughest old boy networks in Dell."

"Dell is an equal opportunity company," company spokesman David Frink told the Wall Street Journal. "We don't tolerate discrimination in any aspect of employment."

Gold-digging disgruntled employees or shafted staffers in search of justice? We have no idea. But maybe Dell could have avoided this kind of suit by diversifying its 14-man executive leadership team.

4 former Austin-area Dell managers claim sex, age discrimination
CBS - KEYE 42 Reporter: Annalisa Petralia
Austin,Texas

Women Suing Dell
Jan Chapman is one of the four women suing Dell Computers for sex and age discrimination.
Jan Chapman is one of the four women suing Dell Computers for sex and age discrimination.



Four former Dell employees have filed a $500 million discrimination lawsuit against Round Rock-based company, accusing it of widespread gender and age discrimination.

Lawyers for the women filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, asking a judge to turn it into a class action covering thousands of former and current workers at Round Rock-based Dell.

The former managers accuse the company of paying men higher wages for equal work and failing to fairly promote women to higher positions.

Jan Chapman is one of the plaintiffs.

We have to stand up and say that's not right, not only for ourselves but the other women who work at Dell or have worked at Dell, she told CBS 42's Annalisa Petralia.

In 2005, the 59 year-old moved to Austin to take an executive level position with the Dell human resources department.

Chapman says Dell promised her promotions and raises that she never received.

Last April, the company laid her off.

Now she's suing, saying the company discriminated against her because of her age and because she is a woman.

Dell needs to change their policies they need to stop discriminating against people over 40 and they need to pay women on an equal basis to men, said Chapman.

The lawsuit noted that there are no women in the company's highest tier of executives.

One of the women also accused the company of disproportionately laying off workers older than 40 after it began cutting 9,000 jobs last year.

In our cases we were all placed in roles that had previously been held by men who were paid significantly more than we were, Chapman said.

Austin area employment attorney Scott Cook says the women are up against a huge corporation and will have to prove their case.

You have to convince a jury of their peers that that's what's been going on, Cook said.

Dell spokesman David Frank called the lawsuit "without merit" and said the company doesn't tolerate discrimination in any form.

Anonymous Citizen
Elgin, Illinois
U.S.A.

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