Bay Area Solar Panel Installation Company Settles Racial Discrimination Lawsuit

In recent news, a Bay Area solar panel installation company was ordered to pay a settlement to settle a discrimination lawsuit. The East Bay solar company was allegedly denying their services to anyone management believed had Middle Eastern or Indian names. Racial discrimination of this type was supposedly standard practice at the company.

The Terms of the Settlement: Resolving Racial Discrimination Claims 

Fidelity Home Energy Inc. (out of San Leandro) and their successor, NorCal Home Systems Inc. (based out of Concord), paid $350,000 to a former employee. The two are also required to hire a consultant. Both actions are required to resolve the racial discrimination lawsuit. 

Racial Discrimination as a Standard Business Practice:

A former employee of NorCal Home Systems Inc., Ayesha Faiz, is of Afghan origin. Allegedly during Faiz’s first week on the job as a telemarketing supervisor, she learned that all prospective home energy systems clients whose names were considered Middle Eastern or Indian were rejected for sales appointments as a standard practice.  

The lawsuit claims that Faiz actively observed supervisors as they flagged customer records in the company’s internal database. Potential home energy systems customers with names that appeared to be Middle Eastern or Indian were placed on a “do not call list.” Faiz claims she was required to reject all the flagged potential customers and to expect her subordinates to do the same. These discriminatory actions occurred almost every day.

Alleged Discriminatory Behavior in the Workplace:

In addition to the standard business practice of placing all prospective customers with Middle Eastern or Indian names on a “do not call” list, Faiz claims she saw a post-it note on an employee’s computer that read, “No Indians.” She claims that some employees added notes to prospective customers’ records in the database with discriminatory comments like “Indian Name!” and “We won’t run this.”

Faiz was not only forced to discriminate against potential customers but specifically against potential customers of her own national origin, which left her so distressed that she quit her job after only a few weeks. During her resignation, Faiz told the company that it made her sick to know the company refuses service to any specific group or ethnicity - to go out of the way to single them out.

Faiz’s allegations described a hostile work environment, which violates the Civil Rights Act that prohibits employers from discriminating due to national origin. According to the terms of the settlement, Fidelity and NorCal will pay money for damages (as agreed) and hire an EEO consultant to help revise policies and procedures. The company is also required to update its database to remove the option to screen customer records by national origin, race, or ethnicity. The company is also expected to post a notice to all employees about the order.

If you need to file a racial discrimination lawsuit or if you need to discuss other employment law violations, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in any one of various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.