Sony Music has settled a lawsuit filed by a former assistant to the CEO of Columbia Records Ron Perry who claimed she was forced to resign after pushing back against hiring practices that allegedly discriminated against white applicants.
In a filing on Tuesday (November 19), lawyers for both sides told a federal judge they had “reached an agreement in principle” to resolve the lawsuit, in which Patria Paulino claimed she was told she could “hire black candidates only.” Sony had called those charges “contradictory and false” and was actively seeking to have the case dismissed when the settlement was reached.
The specific terms of the deal, including whether money was exchanged, were not disclosed in court filings. A Sony spokesman declined to comment Wednesday (Nov. 20). an attorney for Paulino did not return a request for comment.
Paulino sued Sony and Perry in February, alleging she was effectively terminated in retaliation for pushing back against racially conscious hiring practices.
After being hired in late 2022, Paulino claimed she was repeatedly told she could not hire white candidates for a vacant assistant position in Perry's office. He says Perry had received “multiple complaints of racial discrimination from former employees” and that he and the company wanted “more color in his office.”
Despite the diversity goal guidelines, Paulino's lawsuit alleged that she “continued to recommend suitable Caucasian candidates” for the role. At one point, when she promoted a particular white candidate, she says another Sony employee told her in writing, “Unfortunately, we can't hire another white Jewish woman.”
The lawsuit came in the wake of the US Supreme Court's ruling last year that banned the use of racial admissions in higher education, commonly known as “affirmative action.” While that decision did not directly address the hiring or state laws at issue in Paulino's case, it led to overall increased scrutiny of corporate practices aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion.
A week after Paulino filed her case, Sony asked the judge to throw her out of court. Far from being effectively terminated, Sony said he had instead “voluntarily resigned after receiving adverse performance feedback.” The company said it had filed its case simply “to harass her former employer and boss” with a “contradictory and false” lawsuit.
“She alleges … that the defendants discriminated against her because they preferred it white employees but also constructively unloaded on her because she wouldn't play along with their preference for non-white workers,” the label's lawyers wrote, adding the italics themselves for emphasis. “In fact, plaintiff worked for Sony … for less than five months, performed poorly, and was willing to participate in the perfectly legal hiring practices that he now alleges were discriminatory.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/sony-music-settles-lawsuit-claiming-anti-white-discrimination/
