Hughes Ordered to Pay $400,000 in Bias Case

A black former Hughes Aircraft employee who worked on the company’s affirmative action plan was awarded nearly $400,000 Thursday by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury, which found that the defense contractor had discriminated against him.

Samuel Harris, 37, of Lake View Terrace, worked 11 years in Hughes’ missile systems group in Canoga Park, and filed suit after he was laid off in 1989.

Hughes “utilized my color,” Harris said, to help recruit minorities, but never let him advance. “Throughout my career, I was passed over for promotions.”

After a trial that lasted nearly a month, a jury deliberated 3 1/2 days before awarding Harris $140,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 for emotional distress. The panel has yet to decide on punitive damages.

“We don’t think the verdict is consistent with the facts,” said Hughes spokesman Richard Dore, adding that attorneys plan to file motions to have the awards set aside.

Harris’ attorney, Jonathan W. Biddle, called the lawsuit “a classic case of an employer using an employee to beef up an affirmative action plan but not moving the employee up the ranks.”

Harris, who had joined the company in 1978, filed his complaint in September, 1990, alleging racial discrimination based on unequal pay, lack of advancement and the layoff.

He maintained that his salary was $40 to $60 less per week than comparable employees who were white.

During his employment, he was offered only lateral moves. His last post was as an administrative assistant, a job normally reserved for recent college graduates, Biddle said. Before Harris was laid off, he trained a white woman who took over his job, the attorney said.

“Here was a man who came into the company with hopes, with expectations, all of which was for naught,” Biddle said. “If you have people working for you, you advance or promote them and consider them for layoff on the basis of their ability, their seniority and their education. That didn’t happen for Samuel Harris. That’s why we won.”

Dore said Harris may have been making less money because pay spreads are “very common, based on experience and other factors.” He said he could not discuss Harris’ layoff specifically, but that company-wide cutbacks had affected 30,000 Hughes employees since 1985.

Harris said he has not been able to find employment in the aerospace industry since his layoff. He said he has taken painting jobs with his father “to make ends meet.”

“Hopefully this will send a message to corporations that there are rights for people to adhere to,” Harris said.