In a recent court judgement America proved itself once again that it wont tolerate any racism in the country. An engineer of Indian origin who was fired by her employer, a multi-billion dollar corporate, after she complained of her senior’s racist conduct, was awarded US$ 5.5 million by a San Francisco federal jury.
The individual in the eye of the storm is Kiran Pande, a Ph.D in petroleum engineering from Stanford University. Pande was employed by petroleum behemoth Chevron, in its research unit from 1989-2003. The jury found Chevron guilty of wrongful termination and retaliation and ruled that Pande be given roughly US$ 3 million for past and future economic losses, and US$ 2.5 million in punitive damages.
Pande is a person of Indian origin and is a petroleum engineering research scholar from Stanford University. She signed up with Chevron as a research engineer in 1988. Everything was fine till 2001, when she was fired by Chevron in late 2003 after 15 years of employment with the company because she complained against her immediate superior Rex Mitchell, for having made racist and insulting comments about her.
Pande’s immediate superior Rex Mitchell, started making racist remarks and discriminating against her. Mitchell has since then been promote and is currently the company’s chief compliance officer. Pande suffered silently till March 2002, and when she couldn’t take it any more she lodged a complaint with Mitchell’s supervisor, James Johnson, about the former’s conduct or rather misconduct. But Johnson did not investigate, on the other hand he alleged that she had the choice of leaving the company or leaving the group or try to get along with Mitchell for the next 18 months.
Infuriated and hurt Pande lodged a formal complaint against Mitchell with a company ombudsman and in United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
After a three-week trial, the court examined the incidents that occurred between September 2000 and December 2003 and conducted its inquriries. At the end of the trial the jury found that Chevron retaliated against Pande after she complained about discrimination and fired her for reasons that violated a public policy and hence the company had to pay damages to Pande.
This is one of the pioneering balanced judgements which are reinforcing to the world that the era of racism is over and now everyone irrespective of their colour, caste, creed, religion or nationality is equal in front of law and humanity. A concept that is yet to sink in, into the minds of Indian citizenry where people are fighting for backward, scheduled caste/ tribe status on one hand and continue to suffer discrimination based on caste of birth on the other.
It is time Indian judiciary started recognising these incidents and penalising the guilty so as to create an equitable society in the country.
