Lawsuit Accuses Coca-Cola of Bias Against Black Workers
Four former and current black employees of Coca-Cola Co. are suing the soft-drink giant, alleging discrimination and claiming that blacks are paid less and have fewer opportunities to advance than white employees.
“Not only do barriers exist for African American employees seeking upward advancement within the company, but similar barriers virtually segregate the company into divisions where African American leadership is acceptable and divisions where it is not,” the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.
The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta by Washington lawyers Cyrus Mehri and Pamela Coukos. Mehri, a veteran of corporate discrimination cases, represented black employees who sued Texaco in a case that resulted in a landmark $176-million settlement in 1996.
Coke officials said the company’s attorneys were still reviewing the suit. Three of the plaintiffs had filed earlier internal complaints, which the company said it had investigated and didn’t find discriminatory.
Chairman and Chief Executive, M. Douglas Ivester said in a statement Friday that “Coca-Cola Co. was built over time by people of all races, colors and creeds. Discrimination at Coca-Cola is not tolerated.”
In an e-mail sent to employees, Ivester assured them that company policy is that any allegation of discrimination is investigated, and “if we find it, we act to stop it. Our goal is the fair, equitable and honest treatment of all of our associates.”
“I want each of you to know that while we believe the lawsuit is without merit, I take these allegations seriously and our management team takes them seriously,” Ivester wrote.
The suit seeks to include about 1,500 past and current salaried black employees at Coke.
The complaint says few of the company’s black managers reach the highest salary levels and tend to be confined to divisions such as human resources and corporate affairs, which lack the advancement potential of white-dominated divisions such as global marketing or finance.
