Former Manager Sues IBM for Racial Discrimination
Bernard C. Duse Jr. never thought that being black posed any problems that he couldn’t 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 wheel . . . 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 that followed, 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.
Damage Considerable
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 didn’t answer a lawsuit. It was a largely moral victory because the firm, LSI Inc. of Fairfield, is insolvent. But Duse, 48, says the record is clear: IBM was suffering from paranoia, not him.
“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.”
Duse is suing IBM and seven former and current executives in U.S. District Court in New Haven for alleged discrimination, breach of contract, invasion of privacy and trespassing. He is seeking unspecified damages.
IBM, which has earned praise for hiring and promoting blacks and this year was ranked by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the top 50 places for blacks to work, 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 that 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.
But IBM doesn’t 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 company executive officer--then went to work for Procter & Gamble Co. as assistant manager of a regional data center in Los Angeles.
Unsatisfied with the pace of advancement, he left for 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.
But then things changed. He didn’t get an expected promotion. His job rating dropped. In August 1983, Duse’s immediate boss, James H. Beall Jr., was put in charge of a project that Duse says he had 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,” and 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 whom Duse had hired. IBM found that complaint to be groundless.
It also found Duse’s charges against Beall groundless and ordered him in May 1984 to stay away from work pending psychiatric examination.
Company Fearful
An IBM psychiatrist said Duse appeared to be suffering from a paranoid personality disorder and should work with different managers. A psychiatrist picked by Duse said he was obsessive-compulsive, but that “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 someone was following him. He noticed suspicious cars parked on roads around his property, then caught someone looking at his home through 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. I would recommend anyone who feels that way to get psychiatric treatment.”
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 Cannan police in late April or early May 1984 for a permit to carry a weapon.
IBM was haunted by a 1982 attack in Bethesda, Md., the agents said. Edward Mann, a black former employee who had complained of racial discrimination years earlier went on a shooting rampage that May, killing three people and wounding six. Mann hanged himself in 1986 in a Baltimore prison.
“I remember that being an issue of why they were going to such great lengths,” said one of the agents, a retired police officer. “They were afraid they might have another incident like in Maryland.”
Duse, who is divorced, lives in a home in New Canaan that sits 100 yards from the road, hidden by foliage. He said he bought a small-caliber handgun in mid-May while on leave, only because of the alleged 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,” he said.
According to court documents, IBM made nearly all of its payments for the Duse operation to a Virginia firm, Richard W. Kobetz & Associates. Duse also is suing Kobetz and All-Facts Inc. of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., alleging invasion of privacy, trespassing and unfair trade practices. Both deny any illegalities.
Meanwhile, the ordeal has taken a toll.
Duse said he hasn’t been able to find a comparable job--he was making $72,000 a year--because he has been blacklisted. He said he suffers continual headaches and difficulty sleeping, and at one point considered suicide.
IBM lawyers say Duse has not been serious about seeking a new job and ask why he has not seen a doctor for the health problems he claims.
