Posted on 01/14/2014 8:21:14 PM PST by coldphoenix
A former Oracle sales manager is suing the vendor, alleging he was fired shortly after complaining of discriminatory actions by his superior and other company officials.
Ian Spandow was a high-performing sales manager at Oracle in Europe and later California, according to his lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. After coming aboard in 2005, he trained more than 1,000 new hires and gave skills coaching to hundreds of others, the suit states.
Spandow was subsequently promoted in January 2008 to the position of coaching manager, and after continued success was promoted to work as a sales manager at Oracle's U.S. headquarters in Redwood Shores, according to the suit.
Despite performing well in his new role, Spandow, who is Irish, "experienced discriminatory and retaliatory conduct based on his national origin and after his complaint of various improper practices, including the company's discriminatory pay practices of employees based on their national origin," the suit states.
In September 2012, Spandow asked for permission to transfer an Oracle employee working in India to California. Spandow wanted to give the employee, who had a good track record, "a compensation level that was equivalent to Caucasian employees hired by Oracle for the same position." But Spandow's manager denied the request and told Spandow to offer the worker a "substantially lower" amount of money, according to the suit.
"I can't in good conscience, even mention $50K/$50 to him," Spandow said of the employee in an email to his supervisor, Ryan Bambling, that was cited in the lawsuit. "It would be nothing short of discriminating against him based on his ethnicity/country of origin. How or what do I have to do/write to get a reasonable (60+) offer to him?'
This prompted a "stern response" and warning to Spandow, the suit claims.
Spandow subsequently raised his concerns with his sales director, Keith Trudeau, who said the lower salary offer would be "good money for an Indian," according to the suit.
An Oracle human resources manager, Melissa Bogers, later insisted to Spandow that the lower offer was fair, the suit adds.
Spandow was "summarily terminated" without warning on Dec. 5, 2012, just weeks after the dispute over the salary offer, according to the suit.
Spandow has suffered "humiliation, embarrassment, mental anguish and severe emotional and physical distress," according to the suit, which also alleges that Oracle has engaged in a pattern of paying Indian employees less than whites.
He is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, a declaration that Oracle's conduct was unlawful, and "all injunctive relief necessary to bring [Oracle] into compliance" with related laws, according to the suit.
Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger declined to comment on Spandow's allegations Monday.
That's what he SHOULD have said.
Listen to this Indian for a while. You should be able to understand him. If you can also comprehend what he says, you will be wiser for the time you spend listening.
Try this talk first:
This is why Silicon Valley wants “comprehensive” immigration reform. They wan an increase in H1-B visas.
From what I understand, the guy was going to be transferred form India to Calif and so Spandow wanted to change his compensation to match US levels.
I am not believing these numbers. So a sales manager for Oracle in California makes only $60+K? Remind me to not work for Oracle. I could make more installing cabinets. Probably has to wear a tie and do TPS reports everyday too.
Well that amount may not include commissions from sales. Just guessing tho.
This guy is a clown. Of course, they are going to pay less. Why the heck do you bring a guy from India if you pay him the same? This is why Americans can’t get these jobs in the first place!!
A while back I happened to hear a monologue by a Gulfstream-rich talk show host on the subject of employees.
Given his job and his lifestyle, he has a need for multiple employees. He said that, when he identifies a keeper, he makes sure the person is paid way more than he'd command in the normal market, and that that method has produced excellent results over time.
The Governor of LA is an American.
That’s a pretty bold and broad statement.
I know many who work for Oracle that have been there for quite some time and would definately object to your unfounded statement.
The Governor of LA, whatever his faults and suitability for 2016, is a natural-born American.
I certainly hope Spandow is not purchasing affordable Chinese products.
For every two students that U.S. colleges graduate with STEM degrees, only one is hired in a STEM job.
[...snip...]
Finally, What IT Wages Tell Us. Returning to the wage-levels point raised by the three EPI authors, I get a kick out of lobbyists and industrialists who urge that business be allowed to run free of needless regulation and government interference, and yet urge direct governmental intervention in the labor market by permitting the massive infusion of inexpensive and young foreign workers.
Are these guys capitalists or socialists? The answer is that they take one route or the other depending on how it will serve the specific industry in question at the specific moment in time.
Right now they are all for substantial government intervention in the labor market by permitting the admission of many more foreign workers.
And how do such admissions square with the most fundamental rule of capitalism — that the markets regulate prices and wages? Bear in mind that those seeking more alien workers to keep wages in check are the same people who would scream to high heaven if the government sought to control prices.
Your reply to slump tester is what is ignorant.
Jindal is American which has nothing to do with transplant Indian IT workers and their lack of English speaking skill.
This article is about bringing an Indian to the US from his native country and if you worked at all in IT you would understand that slump tester is not being ignorant, he is most likely speaking from first hand knowledge.
The h1b Indians and Pakistanis in the US are hard enough to understand, the. Ones I work with housed in India are even more difficult to understand but big American companies insist in hiring them, not because they make less (because they don’t ), but because they won’t argue with management and they will take abuse without complaint.
That is probably why many of the projects they work on are disasters. They don’t point out that what they are instructed to do is stupid and can’t possibly work, especially if they are contractors billing by the hour.
You're the one who is ignorant if you think Americans want to deal with a bunch of damn foreigners we can't understand. Been to a hospital lately?
I know that, it was a response to some who appeared to include all Indians in his statement
Good grief
I was replying to someone who appeared to say all Indians are hard to understand
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