Last year SCHOTT North America located in Duryea, PA settled a major sex discrimination lawsuit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as outlined in this press release from June 10, 2009 for violations at that plant.
SCRANTON, PA. — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced a major settlement of a sex discrimination lawsuit for $1,450,000 and significant equitable relief against Schott North America, a multinational developer and manufacturer of special glass and specialty materials, components and systems, based in Elmsford, N.Y.
The EEOC charged that Schott laid off women because of their sex after a company reorganization in October 2004 of its specialty glass plant in Duryea, Pa. Prior to the reorganization, glass production at the plant was generally divided into two parts, the “hot end” and the “cold end”; 95.3% of the hot-end workers were male and 76.6% of the cold-end workers were female.
As part of the reorganization, the company created a new position of “melting line operator” and used a “skills matrix” to determine who would obtain these new positions. The glass company laid off employees whom it did not select for the melting line operator position. In its lawsuit, the EEOC charged that the skills matrix system benefited male employees, did not accurately measure the skills truly needed to perform the melting line operator job and had an adverse impact on female applicants – who were selected for layoff at a significantly higher rate than male employees. The EEOC contended that six plaintiff intervenors and five class members were not selected for melting line operator positions and were laid off because of their sex, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Acting EEOC Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru said, “This significant settlement demonstrates the EEOC's commitment to securing meaningful relief for victims of systemic sex discrimination.”
OpenSecrets.org has Paul Kanjorski's Earmarks listed for 2010 here. SCHOTT North America was not only one of his beneficiaries but also spent $480,000 in lobbying expenses on the Congressman.
SCHOTT North America
High Bandwidth, High Energy Storage, Exawatt Laser Glass Development
Duryea, PA Defense Earmark $2,800,000 Lobbying $484,000
Paul Kanjorski is sending the message that if you discriminate against women and pay $1.45 million you will be rewarded with many millions more.
Readers might recall Barack Obama's campaign stop visit to the SCHOTT North America Duryea facility in September, 2008.
1:05 p.m.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has concluded his meeting with workers at Schott North America and now plans to make a previously unannounced stop somewhere in the area. Campaign officials have not disclosed the site of the next stop.
His visit to Schott ended at 12:45 p.m. with a standing ovation from the crowd. Obama began speaking to the audience around noon and finished with questions from the crowd of more than 100 workers and other invited guests.
Before Obama took the stage,U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-11, spoke and told the crowd that if they can find one thing that is better under the last eight years of Bush's administration, he will "buy them a bottle of champagne."
"If we fail to win in this election, I think for the first time in our lifetime we're putting the republic at risk," Kanjorski said.
12:09 p.m.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has begun his speech at Schott North America in Duryea before an audience of more than 100 employees and other invited guests.
He is talking about his plans to boost the U.S. economy and create manufacturing jobs like those at Schott.
"I don't think they have a sense of what people are going through," Obama said.
Obama should have said people don't have a sense of what they will be going through when he gets elected.
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