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Race Discrimination against Comcast

The California law firm of Stephen Danz & Associates posted this interesting article about alleged race discrimination at Comcast….

…  their attorneys reported a race bias and discrimination lawsuit brought last week by an African American former Comcast employee. Comcast is an American multinational mass media company and is the largest broadcasting and largest cable company in the world by revenue. The former employee worked in Comcast’s customer service center who alleged the company discriminated against black male employees and allowed assaults in the workplace by his female supervisors to go unchecked. The Plaintiff, Wilber Spencer Jr. worked for Comcast for over 10 years and argued that he and other black male workers were never promoted, rarely received advances, and were always supervised by white individuals. However, those who were actually promoted were white. After he complained about race discrimination in the workplace, he started receiving bad marks in reviews concerning his attitude. In addition, even though he repeatedly complained about racial discrimination, his pleas went unanswered. Then, after his most recent complaint on March 27, 2015, he was fired for hanging up on a customer. He believes that this was done as a pretext (or a false reason meant to cover the real illegal reason). See the firms  dedicated race discrimination page here.

Read the entire article HERE

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Sex and Race Discrimination at Comcast

Comcast found Guilty of Sex and Race Discrimination
In this article on the Department of Labor website, Comcast was found guilty of systemic hiring discrimination on the basis of race which resulted in the disproportionate rejection of 100 African American, Asian, and Hispanic applicants for call center jobs.   Read the entire article HERE
COMCAST CORPORATION SETTLES CHARGES OF SEX AND RACE DISCRIMINATION
Company will pay nearly $190K in back wages and interest to 96 former and current female employees and 100 minority job applicants; reform hiring practices

SEATTLE — Comcast Corporation has entered into a conciliation agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to resolve allegations of sex and race discrimination.

OFCCP investigators determined that between March 2006 and September 2007 in Everett, Washington, Comcast violated Executive Order 11246 by steering 96 women into lower-paying positions that assisted customers with cable services rather than higher-paid positions providing customer assistance for Internet services because these positions were considered “technical.”

Investigators also established that Comcast disproportionately rejected 100 African American, Asian, and Hispanic applicants for call center jobs because its hiring tests were neither uniformly applied nor validated as related to the job. This resulted in systemic hiring discrimination on the basis of race. Comcast Corporation is a federal contractor.

“Sex-based compensation discrimination and race-based hiring discrimination are not only illegal, they also hurt our economy,” said OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu. “We cannot build an economy that works for everyone by depriving women and minorities of opportunities to get ahead.”

determined that between March 2006 and September 2007 in Everett, Washington, Comcast violated Executive Order 11246 by steering 96 women into lower-paying positions that assisted customers with cable services rather than higher-paid positions providing customer assistance for Internet services because these positions were considered “technical.”…  read more

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Read Others Experiences and Add Your Story Here

Did you have a bad (or good) experience reporting through the Comcast Listens Program?  Did you give up on a Comcast Solutions claim because they delayed the process for years?  Were you forced to quit or retaliated against in some other way because you came forward?

Others would love to read about them here.   Share your story below by commenting on this post.

*Comments are the opinions of the respective authors and may be fact or fictitious.

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Why the Comcast Listens and Comcast Solutions Programs are Bad for You

When you went to work for Comcast, they forced you to give up a bunch of your legal rights.   Whether you were aware at the time or not, your offer letter or employment agreement referenced how you would be bound to use the Comcast Solutions program if you are wronged by Comcast.  You also agreed to NOT file a class action lawsuit.  You gave up your right to use the court system to get your issue heard, and now you will be need to use the Comcast Listens and Comcast Solutions programs which FORCE arbitration.

This is beneficial for Comcast and not great for you.   First, Comcast gets to keep their bad behavior private and out of the court system as the details of all the Comcast arbitration suits NEVER become public.

So does Comcast’s bad behavior create a lot of Comcast Listens and Solutions cases?   In 2014 over 3000 employees used the Comcast Listens program as reported by EthicsPoint, the company that administers the Comcast Listens program. Click for the Document proof.  That’s a LOT of bad and illegal behavior that the public never hears about.

Well can’t you just share the details with the world after you are wronged?   Well NO.  As part of the settlement, you will be gagged.  All those thousands of people who had legal claims against Comcast settled in arbitration can’t talk about it.   So does Comcast continue to do the same illegal acts even after losing in arbitration?  We can’t know for sure, but these sort of forced secret out-of-court settlements have led to protecting the offenders and encouraging continued illegal activity in many other cases (as in the recent Bill O’Reilly sexual harrassment scandal where over the years Fox News aid $13 million to women who have accused Bill O’Reilly of harassment in the workplace, or the Catholic church global crisis where there was extensive covering up of incidents of sexual misconduct in the Church) Is the same thing going on here?  You can be the judge on that question.

But can’t you get out of the arbitration provision and your case heard by the court?   Probably not.  In this court brief below, an ex-Comcast employee named Robert Smith tried to get the courts to hear his 5 count case heard by the courts.  He alleged: age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (Count 1), age discrimination under the Florida Civil Rights Act (Count 2), disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (Count 3), handicap discrimination under the Florida Civil Rights Act (Count 4), and violation of the Family Medical Leave Act (Count 5).   Here’s the Article

The court ruled in favor of Comcast and forced arbitration.

The second reason why Comcast arbitration is bad for you:  The damages you get will most likely be less than what you could have received in a court or jury judgement.  Why?  This is a dirty little secret that few lawyers are willing to talk or write about publicly.  Your arbitration case will be heard by a retired judge or other professional mediation legal professional.  There are a limited number of ex-judges who hear arbitration cases and they can hear hundreds or thousands of cases over the years.  You on the other hand will probably only use an arbitration judge once.  What does that mean.   Comcast has the final say as to whether they work with an arbitration judge.  Will the judge who hears your case will be fair and impartial?  You can hope they will, but in reality you’ll never know whether you would have gotten a better result in a court trial.  There IS a likelihood that IF you prevail, the award you get won’t be as large as you’d get in court.  Why?  The judge hearing your case knows that if they award You, the plaintiff, a big judgement, they will NEVER again be selected by Comcast to hear any more Comcast arbitration cases.   Can this element be removed as a potentially influencing factor?  No.

So what can you do?  Make the best of your bad situation by subscribing to the Listens Solutions Guide email to get more valuable tips such as..

– maximizing your settlement payout
– avoiding the delays that Comcast will put you through
– how to document your claim issue prior to quitting
– tips for finding the best employment attorney
– more ways to get funding if you need it to pay for your fight

Subscribe at www.ListensSolutionsGuide.com on the pop-up that appears or by requesting through our contact form.

Wishing Justice for All – Your Advocates at the Listens Solutions Guide

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Comcast Settles Techs Race Bias Row For $7.2M

In this Law 360.com article, Comcast settles and pays $7.2 million for allegations that it discriminated against African Americans.  It took years for Comcast to finally pay this group, but patience by the plaintiffs paid off big.

Law360, Washington (February 24, 2016, 1:46 PM EST) — Comcast Corp. Inc. will pay up to $7.21 million to settle a class action alleging that it discriminated against African-American technicians at a Chicago facility through unfair performance evaluations, shoddy work conditions and tolerance of racist comments, according to an agreement submitted to an Illinois federal court on Tuesday.

Comcast said it will also improve staff access to complaint procedures and promotion opportunities, and said that it has taken steps to renovate the facility, provide it with better equipment and eliminate a disciplinary plan that workers…

Read More Here

 

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Website Launch Provides Comcast Employees Dispute Resolution Information – ListensSolutionsGuide.com

A new website launched today providing current and past Comcast Corporation employees with information on various programs designed to expose and deal with internal acts that violate the companies Code of Conduct, and to provide a streamlined dispute resolution process for Comcast employees who feel they were victims of Employment Law violations.

ListensSolutionsGuide.com which is in no way connected to Comcast Corporation, aggregates critical information which was not easily accessible before.  Although Comcast employees sign away many legal rights to take legal actions, including filing class-action lawsuits when they sign their offer letters, the details of what they are agreeing to is not provided with the offer letter.  To get details of the impact on the employment rights Comcast Employees are giving up, a special request must be made to the department that manages the Comcast Listens and Comcast Solutions programs.

Providing this informational service as a public service, the non-profit ListensSolutionsGuilde.com hopes to educate current and past employees that they can take action against Comcast to get their concerns heard.  Serious violations of employment law can result in the employee receiving significant financial compensation for their damages.  These serious law violations might include sexual harassment, discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race, disability, and other category protected by law, failure to accommodate for disabilities, and violation of federal, state or local wage and hour laws.

 

In addition to providing program information and frequently asked questions about the programs, the website also offers help in finding an Employment Attorney for questions related to Comcast employee law violations.

The website launch will include an aggressive online PR educational drive to get this valuable information in front of current and past Comcast employees.