Ex-Manager at Car Dealership Claims Wrongful Termination

A former manager at Atlas Chrysler Plymouth sued the Costa Mesa auto dealership, its corporate owner and his onetime supervisor Wednesday, alleging that he was fired for complaining about a pattern of racial discrimination by his supervisor.

Matthew Manley contends in the wrongful termination suit that the dealership’s general manager at the time, Patrick Doyle, ordered him to fire employees because of their race.

The suit alleges that Doyle repeatedly commented to Manley that it was “a Third World country out there” on the dealership’s sales floor. At one time during Manley’s two-month tenure at the dealership, the suit alleges, Doyle told him he wanted “white people here with car experience, instead of training Third World rejects.”

Manley, a Rancho Santa Margarita resident and 22-year veteran of the auto retailing industry, complained to corporate officials about Doyle on at least five occasions, but no action was taken, according to the suit, which was filed in Orange County Superior Court. Instead, the suit alleges, Manley was fired after word of his complaints filtered back to the supervisor.

The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, names Doyle, Atlas and the dealership’s Lakewood-based owner, M.F. Salta Co. Inc., as defendants. Officials at Salta and Atlas declined to comment, saying they had not seen the suit. Doyle, who no longer is employed at Atlas, could not be reached for comment.

Through his attorney, Roger Carter of Irvine, Manley declined to be interviewed. Carter said Manley is working as a sales agent at another Orange County-area new-car dealership.

He said Manley was a fleet manager and finance manager at another Salta dealership, Coast Cadillac in Long Beach, when Doyle recruited him to come to Atlas. Manley worked there from early January 1998 until he was fired, on March 2.

The suit also alleges that Manley was told to fire one employee because she had an Eastern European accent and to fire another because of his race.

Manley filed a complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing in June. But the state never investigated because Manley said at the time that he intended to pursue a civil suit.

Under state law, the department can close its file on a discrimination complaint if the complaining party opts to file a civil suit.

Attorneys who specialize in discrimination cases said that while the practice might seem to let serious allegations escape scrutiny, it actually permits an overburdened state agency to concentrate on cases involving people too poor to hire private attorneys.

In addition to alleging wrongful termination, Manley’s suit charges Atlas and M.F. Salta with failing to prevent harassment, race discrimination, maintaining a hostile work environment and retaliating against him for complaining about such problems.

Manley acknowledges in the suit that he signed a separation agreement when he was fired but claims that the terms were altered after he did so.

The original agreement, the suit says, stated that Manley was being let go because he “was not ready for [the] general sales manager position.”

But after Manley signed, the suit contends, Doyle tacked on additional allegations.