Salt Lake City, USA - The owner of Totally Awesome Computers has settled a lawsuit alleging he discriminated against minorities and employees who were not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Neither party released details of the settlement, reached days before the lawsuit against Dell "Superdell" Schanze was to go to trial Monday.
Former employee William Carlton May filed the lawsuit against Schanze's Superdell's Computers Inc. in 2003. May, who is Latino, claimed that Schanze perpetrated a hostile work environment on the basis of race and ethnicity.
May alleged that Schanze repeatedly made condescending remarks about Latinos and used the company e-mail system to disparage racial and ethnic groups. May said he was demoted from vice president to technician and then fired in June 2003 after he filed a complaint with the Anti-Discrimination and Labor Division.
Attorneys for Schanze, who denied the discrimination accusations, intended to show jurors e-mails, some of them written by May, as a defense. After being demoted, May allegedly told a co-worker about his plans to hurt the company, leading to his suspension and eventual firing.
May now works for a Florida computer company.