Posted on 12/07/2005 9:51:55 PM PST by rajuchor
Caremark Sued for Racial and Ethnic Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation Sat Dec 3, 7:00 AM ET
Dallas, TX, (PRWEB) December 3, 2005 -- Indian-born US citizen Neelima Tirumalasetti announced today she has filed suit in federal court in Texas against Caremark RX, Inc. and its subsidiary CaremarkPCS for almost daily anti-Indian harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Reference case number: 3-05CV1847-B.
Tirumalasetti worked in Caremark’s Richardson, TX facility, as a senior IT analyst in quality assurance. The lawsuit alleges that, after Caremark announced in December 2003 that it would be outsourcing Richardson work to IBM India, Tirumalasetti became the target of widespread anti-Indian harassment.
The lawsuit states that Tirumalasetti’s co-workers repeatedly called her “brown-skinned bitch,” “dirty Indian,” and other insults, accused her of coming to the U.S. to “take [their jobs,” mocked her accent in team meetings, and excluded her work projects. “Hoping for some relief, I reported the harassment to my manager, my manager’s direct supervisor, Human Resources, two vice presidents and even Caremark’s Ethics hotline, but the reports made matters worse,” says Tirumalasetti. She states in the lawsuit that after reporting harassment Caremark removed her team leader responsibilities on a large project, isolated her from prime work assignments, began auditing her work daily, denied her pay, and blocked her access to leave. The lawsuit also reveals that, days after Caremark requested Tirumalasetti to confidentially disclose the names of co-workers responsible for her racial and ethnic harassment, Tirumalasetti received death threats at work.
According to the lawsuit, Caremark originally told Tirumalasetti that she was making up the harassment as well as faking the physical symptoms of her escalating workplace stress, which repeatedly landed her in the hospital. The lawsuit states that Caremark later conceded that Tirumalasetti was the victim of harassment, but concluded that the harassment was understandable given Caremark’s employees’ concerns about outsourcing to India. Notwithstanding, Caremark prohibited Tirumalasetti from working from home to avoid the continued harassment, a privilege enjoyed by other employees.
The lawsuit shows that Tirumalasetti suffered a final emotional breakdown after Caremark reassigned her to report to a co-worker she identified as one of her chief harassers—a more junior employee—and this co-worker stated that she would “kill the bitch who complained.” Caremark sent Tirumalasetti a termination letter after she reported her situation to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “Caremark’s investors deserve to know how the company conducts itself behind closed doors,” Tirumalasetti states. “This lawsuit is about dignity and assuring that all employees are treated equally regardless of their national origin, race, or ethnic background.”
Tirumalasetti is represented by Dallas attorney Barry Hersh of Hersh Law Firm, P.C. ( www.hersh-law.com ). Hersh was recently named as a Texas Super Lawyer Rising Star by Texas Monthly and Law & Politics magazines. For additional information or a copy of the lawsuit, contact Neelima Tirumalasetti or Barry Hersh.
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Neelima Tirumalasetti 972-644-0448 E-mail Information
IF this is all true, she should own the company afterwards.
I don't doubt it's true. It's hard when you see a company you and coworkers have built being moved to India to seperate that act from the Indians on site. Having worked in IT for 20 years I've seen some overt hostility. I've also seen plenty of Indian on Indian harrassment and Indian anti-non-Indian prejudice, which can become pronounced as they move into management.
You know it isn't all true, what with her claiming repeated nervous breakdowns from the alleged harrassment. We're in the middle of hearing from Iraqis at the Saddam trial who underwent torture, sleep deprivation, near starvation and brutal beatings for four years, and they didn't have 'nervous breakdowns'.
Some of her story is probably true, but when these sleazy tort lawyers decide to take these harrassment cases for a third of the potential windfall, they coach, embellish, exaggerate, invent, dramatize and lie, to bring about the big payday.
This lawsuit sounds like a union filing a grievance over health and safety issues - there aren't any.
She worked there for who knows how long before Dec. 2003 when the harrassment supposedly started and then she worked there for two years longer?
Why didn't they fire her after her first report in Dec. 2003?
I simply think there may be a case of underperformance on her part and probably might have been warned by the company about her performance. This might have been the trigger for her to bring this lawsuit after termination my the company.
If she was harassed, then why did she not file the lawsuite in 2003 when the harassment started? Something stinks here.
If she owns it, it will definitely outsource now. heh
Here is the link to the story in our local news paper.
http://www.eenadu.net/archives/archive-7-12-2005/panelhtml.asp?qrystr=htm/panel1.htm
Thing is - the company isn't outsourcing to India. In fact, the CEO is against outsourcing. All but one of the company's call centers are located in the United States, the exception being a pharmacy help desk call center located in Jamaica, and that one is in the process of being phased out. Caremark is a pharmacy benefits management company, and runs mail service pharmacies for a lot of health care management plans in the United States.
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