Executive Sues Toyota, Charging Race Bias

An executive for Toyota Technical Center has filed suit against the Torrance-based company, charging that he and other employees were bypassed for promotions because they were not Japanese nationals.

The employment discrimination and civil rights suit filed by John Horton in Torrance Superior Court seeks more than $240 million in damages. It says that the research and development arm for the Japanese auto maker has two separate employment tracks for Japanese nationals and others, and segregates the two staffs.

Toyota representatives declined to comment specifically on Horton’s charges, but they denied that the company discriminates. An Americanization program is in effect to incorporate more non-Japanese into the staff, a spokesman said.