Two recent lawsuits claim Kia Motors, the west Georgia auto maker, discriminates against women, older workers, Americans and African-Americans. And the plaintiffs, two former employees of the Korean-owned factory, say they were fired after filing complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Robert Tyler, a former human resources manager, claims he was ordered by his boss to keep track of the number of black employees hired so that no more than 60 percent of production workers were African-American, according to his lawsuit filed in Fulton County.
Andrea Gogel, another ex-HR manager, says she was told not to speak in meetings with Korean male managers and that her bosses only wanted to hire “young, pretty women” for one department, according to her lawsuit also filed in Fulton County.
Gogel’s attorney, Meredith Carter, filed motions this week opposing Kia’s attempt to transfer her client’s case from Atlanta to Newnan, closer to the automaker’s factory in West Point.
Corinne Hodges, a spokeswoman for Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG), said the company doesn’t “comment on pending litigation.”
Korean automakers Kia and Hyundai, as well as their many parts suppliers scattered across west Georgia and east Alabama, have recently come under heightened scrutiny by federal officials for violations of labor and workplace safety rules. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, for example, is in the midst of a year-long review of safety and health practices at all auto parts factories in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
The discrimination lawsuits fit a pattern, Carter says, of Kia managers skirting or ignoring U.S. workplace and civil rights laws.
“KMMG seemed to disregard American laws, practices, policies and procedures and did so without fear of any reprecussions,” the attorney said.
Kia, which began building cars here in 2009, was considered the economic-development coup of the decade and finally stamped Georgia on the Southern auto-making map. Along with sister plant Hyundai in Mobile, Ala., the automakers drew dozens of Korean parts suppliers to the region and created 50,000 jobs.
The manufacturers didn’t come cheap. Kia alone got roughly $450 million in state, local and federal incentives and tax breaks. Elected officials say the billions of dollars of investments and new jobs were worth the financial inducements.
The lawsuits offer a different perspective. Tyler, hired by Kia in September 2007, was ordered to give quarterly reports detailing the percentage of African-American production and maintenance workers, according to his lawsuit. He was also told that Korean executives didn’t want to hire any production workers older than 50.
The lawsuit states Tyler was forced to maintain a “Pre-Employment Candidate Review Chart” which detailed applicants’ sex, race and age. “O.G.,” for example, was used to identify “old guys,” court documents show. Federal law prohibits job discrimination based on an employees race, age or gender.
Gogel, hired in March 2008, was told by bosses that “she had to understand Korean culture and adhere to its beliefs,” her lawsuit states. “One of those beliefs was that younger workers were preferred and she should help the Koreans figure out which job candidates were younger so the older candidates could be weeded out.”
In September 2010, Gogel and Tyler submitted a 14-page “Report of Concerns” to Kia executives detailing “illegal and unethical hiring practices.” Both plaintiffs say their concerns were given short shrift. They soon filed complaints with the EEOC.
Gogel says management retailiated upon learning of the EEOC investigation by excluding her from meetings and withholding a promotion. Management accused her of encouraging another employee’s EEOC filing. Gogel was fired in early 2011. Tyler had already been fired.
The EEOC issued a “right to sue” letter to Gogel and Tyler last March. Both plaintiffs seek back pay, benefits, compensatory and puntive damages.
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