A Lesbian, formerly employed by Apple Computer as a human resources compensation consultant, has slapped one of the nation’s largest computer manufacturers with a discrimination lawsuit.
This lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, may be one of the largest discrimination lawsuits filed against Apple Computer by a Lesbian.
The amended complaint, filed on May 16, 2005, alleges that Shaune Patterson was suspended for one month and then subsequently wrongfully terminated from her position, after she complained that her white counterparts, who were junior to her, were making higher salaries than she was. Patterson alleges that the suspension came one day after she complained of racial discrimination.
Patterson, who has an MBA from the University of Texas, amended her complaint to include claims of sexual orientation and genetic characteristic discrimination. Prior to her one-month suspension, Patterson alleges that one of Apple’s managers wrote a memo describing her as a “rather obese-sized black lesbian.” According to Patterson’s attorney, Waukeen McCoy, “Apple discounted my client’s achievements, choosing to base the decision to discipline not on her performance, but rather on her size, race, and sexual orientation.” McCoy was the lead plaintiffs’ attorney in one of the largest U.S. History racial discrimination suit, Carroll v. Interstate Brands Corporation, which rendered a verdict for $133 million in August of 2000.
Source: PRNewswire.
dennis,
well said. My thoughts exactly.
I can’t believe you guys changed the title of the article to “Obese-sized Black Lesbian …” from the former “Lesbian files…” Regardless if the suit is true or not, that just smacks of sensationalism. We don’t even know if the woman is obese rather just that some idiot was stupid enough to call her obese.
I’ve always heard that Apple was a cool place to work for lesbians and gays; but just because an organization is cool doesn’t mean all it’s employees are. So it’s well feasible that some employee did act discriminatory to her; it’s also feasible that if an employee did perform discriminatory actions that they may or may not have anything to do with her being fired. That’s what the “discovery” process for the case well explore.
“From: Charko May 21, 05 – 05:00 pm
dennis,
well said. My thoughts exactly.”
that goes double for me.
MDM Magic Word: “choice” as in….
One may either work to make a contribution to the betterment of our society… or work harder to be a better asshole. It’s your “choice”.
I blame Newsweek.
And to be comprehensive, I think she’d also need to be a midget quadriplegic over the age of 65 to get all the discriminatory bases covered.
MW: along. As in “Can’t we all just get…”
all you people who carelessly fling around the word “liberal” and “hippie” or whatever, you’re simply ignorant and prejudiced against things that are different from you or things you don’t understand. people like you are PART of what ruins justice… BUT, at the other end, there are the EXTREME liberals, the ones who are morons by ignoring justice in a different fashion… by being spineless and giving the REAL gold-diggers a break because they’re colored/gay/whatever.
BOTH EXTREMES ARE WRONG. too many people in this forum see things only as black and white… no pun intended. and this two-tone bullshit is what ruins real justice.
the memo may have presented only facts, but it did so in a manner that was unnecessary. it’s kinda like saying “this person has a big wart on their face and is very unattractive” – even if it’s true, it’s not necessary.
so if the memo is real, the person who wrote it needs to be punished. if this woman IS gold-digging, SHE needs to be punished for tying up the justice system with her crap.
so you apple apologists AND you moron white/hetero-power jerks AND you spineless liberal extremists ALL need to shut up and wait for the FACTS to come forward. i hate to sound like an asshole but i just find it so amazing that nobody can really look at this thing without putting their own slant on it. and it is that slant that makes for poor judgment.
alright… that’s enough out of me.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with the descriptive terms…
Obese – Either she is or isn’t. I could understand if the manager called her “fatso.”
Black – I assume she is a black woman. Isn’t Black the currently accepted term. She is a black woman. There’s nothing wrong with saying that.
lesbian – Well. The only way anyone at Apple could have known she was a lesbian or not would have been if she let it be known she was a lesbian.
I could see this person being upset if she was a slender, straight, white female. Then those terms would have been untrue. Or if they called her a porky-dyke-(insert any derogatory black reference).
It also depends on the context of the memo.
I’d like to read the entire memo before passing judgement.
Did the memo indicate she was fired because she was an obese, black, lesbian?
Or did the memo simply use those terms to identify which employee was being fired for some other valid reason.
obese…check
black…check
lesbian…check
a perfect score on the oppress – ‘o – meter
might as well giver the money now and save yourself the legal fees
“…giving the REAL gold-diggers a break because they’re colored/gay/whatever”
Sorry, Matt, but by using the word ‘colored’ you have automatically become a racist, too intent on your own selfish, white worldview to learn the currently accepted terminology for another ethnic group.
The liberal handbook now requires me to ask, “And what color would that be?” in a sarcastic, imperious tone.
by using the word ‘colored’ you have automatically become a racist…
Penalty,
That’s kind of a severe assessment don’t you think?
I know people who are older (in their 50s and above) who use the word “colored” out of habit and are anything but racist. At one time that word was accepted.
After all, do you know what the letters, NAACP stand for?
You’re not being very tolerant for a liberal.
OK, so a fat woman, a gay woman and a black woman walk into a bar all together… stop me if you’ve heard it…
After review…
I’d fire the manager.
Why?
Because he or she wrote…
Obese-sized
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to use the additional word “sized”.
Obese says it all. If someone calls someone else obese it’s obvious that they’re referring to their size.
YOU’RE FIRED!
The company where I work is majority white and MOST of them are losers. Just like anywhere, a few hard working ones make up for all the lazies that just want to attend meetings, take smoke breaks and talk about their children.
I say that to say this, it’s VERY hard to get fired from anywhere nowadays. Of the last 4 people (that I know of) at my company that were doing poor jobs, one was demoted, one was moved to a position where they couldn’t do as much damage, one (contractor) had their contract ended and one was allowed to steal until the amount stolen meant it was a federal case.
So, if this person was fired, I’m more likely to believe that they’ve got a pretty darn good reason for doing it, and it has nothing to do with performance (you don’t get fired for poor performance, you’re more apt to get fired for creating a hostile workplace).
Heroin,
FUNNY STUFF! LOL!
Question If a white girl said she was harassed then what would some say don’t hire white women. Being a black man I have to wonder when blacks and whites will stop judging people by there skin color and by the content of their character. Another question If you are a man in a relationship and it goes bad because of her, do you classify all women at that point as bitches,whores,hoes,and sluts? I mean, all cases like these can’t always be just because someone wants a free ride black or white.
Maybe the lady in question objected to the memo because she’s got low self-esteem, particularly about her weight. It happens, but some people just accept that they have a certain body shape and while they try to change it, they know people are going to use ‘large’, ‘fat’, or ‘tubby’ as a descriptor. if I was helping a newbie where I work to find one of these obese people, I’d certanly use a term such as ‘large’, or maybe ‘great of girth’ to describe them.
Then again, I work in a foundry, where we’re all pretty much non-PC to start off with, and right bastards at the worst.
As for ‘black’ or ‘lesbian’, well, many people now accept that they are black, or lesbian, or both, fairly readily – and sometimes with pride – so I don’t really see how the lady would be sensitive to those terms.
I wonder if it has occurred to anyone that perhaps she was a shitty worker.
Why does everyone assume that Thelonius Mac is white? Would your perception of Thelonius Mac’s comments change if this poster was black? Black and lesbian? Black, lesbian, and obese? Does it matter?
Take Thelonius Mac’s comments as a black person – could it be they are tired of using race or other “genetic identifiers” to succeed in the business world and to be judged soley on the merits of their work? Would the comments change if Thelonius Mac were a white male?
I find Thelonius Mac’s comments interesting and the replies Thelonius Mac’s posts to make rather significant assumptions. Assumptions, by the way, you should leave out when judging an employee’s performance.
“it’s VERY hard to get fired from anywhere nowadays”
All of the “right to work states” where you can be fired “without cause” unless you’re one of the 10% of U.S workers with a union contract.
I know many on this site are anti union and we have some where I work; many eventually come begging the union for help in extracting managements foot out of their asses.
You need to come out of your cave more often.
Viridian:
Am I to assume you have never heard of Sputnik?
~M
http://www.nrtw.org/rtws.htm
Of which California is NOT one… unless this employee was working at Apple’s Wyoming facility.
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your post said “anywhere nowadays”, not California.
Has it ever occured to you that some of your coworkers might include you in the “losers” category?
I know for a FACT that I’m in the losers category
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> I get paid the same regardless of if I’m a “hard working eager beaver” or a “loser”. The only difference is how tired I am at the end of the day. LOL!
I know that this person has a copy of the memo…I did not know that there were so many ignorant people in this world. Would you like to be terminated from your position because of your race? How about because of your weight or appearance. If you answered yes, you are sick and should not be in this country.