Jurors Clear Western Digital in Job-Bias Suit

Jurors cleared Western Digital Corp. on Friday of discriminating against a former middle manager who maintains her mistreatment contributed to the problems of her son, charged in the casino sex-slaying of a 7-year-old girl.

Western Digital, an Irvine-based maker of computer parts, had been sued on charges it favored white men in their 30s over Winifred Strohmeyer and her co-plaintiff, Barbara Anderson. The company said Friday’s nearly unanimous verdict proves it treats all workers equally.

“Obviously, we feel vindicated,” said Charles Haggerty, the chief executive, who was dismissed as a defendant by the judge halfway through the trial. “We do not tolerate discrimination in any circumstance.”

But Strohmeyer, 54, and Anderson, 51, who left Western Digital during a round of layoffs in 1996, said they would appeal.

They contended the Orange County Superior Court judge unfairly put off-limits as evidence most of what they described as a longtime pattern of harassment and bias.

The evidence not allowed included Western Digital’s treatment of other women, statistics about the overall makeup of the company’s work force and the issue of whether a manager in Asia had paid for prostitutes on his expense account.

“It’s only one step, and the next step is to appeal,” Strohmeyer said. “[The judge] ruled out our ability to prove all the facts.”

The jury voted 12-0 against both Strohmeyer and Anderson on the sex discrimination charge. On the age bias charge, the decision went 12-0 against Anderson and 10-2 against Strohmeyer.

Juror Jay Henry said Strohmeyer clearly clashed with some executives by raising “hard questions” about discrimination. “Though there might have been some problems, we didn’t think [her departure] was because of her sex or her age.”

Strohmeyer’s son Jeremy is scheduled for trial in April in Las Vegas on charges of kidnapping, raping and murdering Sherrice Iverson of Los Angeles.

The 7-year-old was slain last May in a restroom at the Primadonna casino on the California-Nevada line while her father gambled the early morning hours away.

The company contended that it laid off Anderson, a tax specialist, because she had too little experience in foreign taxes--an area of prime importance as the company’s overseas business boomed. It said Strohmeyer was a valued employee who accepted a career-enhancing job as human relations manager in Singapore and later turned down a $110,000-a-year transfer to the company’s Rochester, Minn., facility.