T-Mobile must face a former employee’s race bias claim, a judge held Monday, finding that the company offered contradictory reasons for reducing her bonus and firing her.
In a lawsuit, the worker alleged she received a reduced bonus and was laid off because of her race, citing previously expressed concerns that managers treated her differently than other non-Black, male employees, talking over her and otherwise disrespecting her.
T-Mobile said the reduced bonus was due to performance concerns — her unavailability on Slack, missed meetings and more — but the court said genuine disputes existed with respect to each assertion. A supervisor said in a deposition that bonus decisions should not be based on Slack, for example, and the employee had reportedly expressed concern that she had been intentionally excluded from meetings.
The company similarly said it laid off the plaintiff because of her performance, but an HR officer said in an internal email that the termination was due to a reduction in roles and scope in the department — “nothing to do with performance.”
The contradiction between the company’s stated rationale and the evidence in the record weighs against dismissing the case, the judge said, allowing those claims to proceed.
T-Mobile did not immediately return a request for comment.
Thorough documentation is crucial for managing performance issues, the founder of a workplace investigation and compliance training firm told SHRM conference attendees last year.
That includes specific explanations of expectations and detailed descriptions of behavior that must change, she said; documentation also should include an explanation from the employee and the consequences of failing to meet expectations within a specified timeframe.
