IBM Race Bias Suit Points Up Fears : Ex-Employee Claims Persecution; Firm Denies Charges
Bernard C. Duse Jr. never thought being black posed any problems he could not overcome.
“I have always said whatever problems I will hit in that regard, I will overcome that, and I have always done that by simply working harder and putting my shoulder to the wheels . . . to work harder to overcome that,” Duse said.
His life seemed unlikely to prove him wrong until January, 1984, when he complained of racial discrimination at IBM, his employer of 14 years.
In the months afterward, Duse’s mental stability was questioned, and he was falsely accused of sexual harassment. Security agents put him under around-the-clock surveillance, tailing his car and watching him through binoculars. Finally, he was fired.
“You can’t overcome situations where people are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do the things that were done to me. It was racially motivated in the extreme,” Duse told Stamford Superior Court Judge Sidney Landau. To be treated “like some two-bit drug dealer . . . took my sense of self and flushed it down the toilet,” he said.
Landau in May awarded Duse a $4-million default judgment after one of the detective agencies that shadowed him did not respond to a lawsuit. It was largely a moral victory, though, because the firm, LSI Inc. of Fairfield, is insolvent. But Duse, 48, says the record is clear: IBM, not he, was suffering from paranoia.
“The damage done to my character has been considerable,” he said in an interview. “I will get a great deal of pleasure having these things exposed.”
Firm, Executives Named
Duse is suing IBM and seven former and current executives in U.S. District Court in New Haven alleging discrimination, breach of contract, invasion of privacy and trespassing. He is seeking unspecified damages.
IBM has earned praise for its hiring and promotion of blacks, and Black Enterprise magazine ranked it this year as one of the top 50 places for blacks to work.
IBM denies Duse’s allegations and says it is eager to tell its side of the story in court.
IBM spokesmen said they could not respond to specifics because of an order the company sought from U.S. District Judge Ellen Burns barring access to much of the evidence and limiting what Duse and attorneys can say.
IBM does not dispute that its fears about a once-rising manager led to extraordinary security measures and surveillance costing more than $450,000.
Duse earned an engineering degree at the University of Pittsburgh, served two years in the Army--six months of it in Vietnam as a platoon leader and as a company executive officer--before being hired by Procter & Gamble Co. as assistant manager of a data center in Los Angeles.
Earned MBA
Unsatisfied with the pace of advancement, he left to attend Harvard Business School, earning an MBA in 1970. He was recruited by IBM, which marked his rise with superior job ratings and a trip to middle-manager school in 1980.
Then things changed. He did not get an expected promotion. His job ratings dropped. In August, 1983, Duse’s immediate superior, James H. Beall Jr., was put in charge of a project Duse says he developed.
In January, 1984, after Duse told IBM through his attorney that he believed that he was the victim of discrimination, Beall embarked on a campaign to harass and discredit him, Duse said. Beall said “if it were up to him, he would summarily execute me,” Duse said. Beall twice commented about sending the Ku Klux Klan to his home, Duse said.
Duse also contends that Beall was behind a sexual harassment complaint filed by a woman Duse had hired. IBM found that complaint to be groundless.
It also found Duse’s charges against Beall groundless and ordered Duse in May, 1984, to stay away from work pending psychiatric examination.
An IBM psychiatrist said that Duse appeared to be suffering from a paranoid personality disorder and that he should work with different managers. A psychiatrist Duse chose described him as obsessive-compulsive but said “most executives, if they are any good, are obsessive, compulsive, and they are also hypomanic.”
It was on the first weekend of his forced leave that Duse started to suspect that he was being followed. He noticed suspicious cars parked on roads around his property, then caught someone looking at his home with binoculars.
He returned to work in July 1984, to a non-managerial position, filed his lawsuit against IBM that month, and was fired in November.
IBM said Duse had instilled fear of physical harm in people.
“I know of no one who in any way ever told me my presence instilled fear in them,” Duse said. “It might be just being black instills fear. Or it might be having served in Vietnam instills fear. . . .”
Security agents who took part in the Duse operation said they watched IBM offices in Stamford and Westchester County, N.Y., and the Connecticut homes of three of Duse’s bosses around the clock starting in early May, 1984.
Investigative reports obtained by Duse and his attorney, David S. Golub, in 1985 show that security agents kept close tabs on him. One agent reported heading down Duse’s driveway at 2 a.m. on May 11, 1984.
Two former members of one security detail, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said IBM officials became alarmed when Duse applied to New Canaan police in late April or early May, 1984, for a permit to carry a weapon.
Haunted by Rampage
IBM was haunted by a 1982 attack in Bethesda, Md., the agents said. A black former employee who had complained of racial discrimination years before went on a shooting rampage that killed three people and wounded six.
Duse, who is divorced, lives in a home in New Canaan that sits 100 yards from the road and is hidden by foliage. He said he bought a handgun only because of what he called the Klan threats.
“I think the security apparatus at IBM was embarrassed at what happened in Maryland and they had a chance with me to do several things showing top management they could carry out their security responsibilities,” Duse said. “Based on what happened in Bethesda, they probably considered all black males a potential danger. We were not seen as individuals.”
