BAY CITY, MI — Since last July, six Black Saginaw County residents have filed federal lawsuits against The Dow Chemical Co., alleging they were the victims of racial discrimination and a hostile work environment.
“I don’t think it’s new. I think it’s something that’s been going on for some time,” said Detroit attorney Carla D. Aikens, representing the six plaintiffs who have filed suits in U.S. District Court.
The six plaintiffs — two women and four men — worked in different departments for Dow. Two of them remain Dow employees.
The suits contain counts of discrimination, retaliation, and hostile workplace environment in violation of Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act
Aikens filed the first suit against Dow on July 26, 2023, on behalf of a Black woman. In it, the woman states Dow hired her as a logistics technician in January 2022. Two months later, she began getting harassed when a head operator accused her of cutting a hose on a machine. After this, other operators would not help the woman with her tasks, the suit states.
The woman spoke with her trainer, telling him she was overworked, harassed, and bullied. However, several white coworkers continued to harass her and she was moved to a less desirable shift, the suit alleges. The harassing employees did not receive less-favorable assignments, the suit states.
The woman’s doctor in May 2022 advised her to take time off work and put her on medication for work-related stress.
Dow in June 2022 declined to pay the woman overtime because she had filed ethics reports against her superiors, the suit states. The same month, a coworker told her she looked like abolitionist icon Harriet Tubman. The woman told a supervisor about this and was immediately moved to a less desirable shift, her suit states.
Dow purportedly investigated and determined the woman’s issues stemmed from personality clashes rather than racial bias, the suit states.
Mary Fournier, Dow’s corporate communications advisor, said the company has an unwavering commitment to its core value of respect for people.
“Dow does not tolerate any form of discrimination and takes any allegations of discrimination and retaliation seriously,” Fournier said. “Our extensive internal reviews do not substantiate the allegations in these complaints. Dow will vigorously defend itself against any unsupported allegations.”
The woman filed racial discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in July 2022. The EEOC the following April sent her a right-to-sue letter.
After Aikens filed the initial suit, more Black Dow employees contacted her to voice similar complaints.
In one suit, a former employee alleges it was common for Dow’s Black employees to not be adequately trained for their jobs.
“Plaintiff observed that Dow treated its Black employees worse than its white employees, and if the Black employees spoke up, they were only treated worse,” the suit states. “It seemed to Plaintiff that the Black employees there were set up for failure and that a different set of criteria applied to their jobs versus white employees.”
This man was fired after allegedly voicing concerns over his colleague being told she resembled Harriet Tubman, his suit states.
In a third suit, a woman plaintiff alleges Dow held a meeting with its upper management in mid 2019 to discuss how to improve overall participation. The woman spoke up and related issues she was experiencing as a Black woman, after which she alleges she was targeted for termination.
She was shortly thereafter written up, placed on a performance improvement plan, and moved to a different building, her suit states. She filed a grievance with her union and reached out to Dow’s ethics department, according to her suit.
Dow in January 2020 placed the woman on leave as its human resources department received a tip of her using her cellphone during work hours, an accusation the woman denied. Dow fired the woman the following day, after which she filed a wrongful termination grievance with her union.
During the grievance process, it was discovered the woman had not been working when she used her cellphone. Dow rehired the woman in February 2021. She has since applied for several positions but been denied for all, her suit states.
Her suit goes on to state Dow treats Black employees worse than their white counterparts and overlooks them for promotions.
A fourth suit, filed by a man who began working for Dow in November 2021, states he was repeatedly passed over for promotions in favor of less qualified and less experienced white employees. The man filed ethics complaints in 2022 and again in 2024 regarding supervisors’ discriminatory conduct, but Dow failed to address his concerns, his suit states.
Following the second complaint, the man was subjected to an excessive overtime schedule. Dow’s medical department in August 2024 sent him home due to the stress and hostile environment, his suit states.
On other occasions, the man was verbally abused by his white coworkers, he alleged. He was placed on medical leave on Aug. 26, 2024, due to emotional stress caused by the work place.
The man “remains fearful of returning to work due to ongoing threats and harassment,” his suit states. Dow “has permitted a racially hostile work environment to persist, causing Plaintiff emotional distress.”
The final two suits allege two Black men were fired for pretextual reasons when in fact they were terminated for complaining of mistreatment of Black employees.
Aikens lauded the first woman who contacted her, which set off the subsequent filings.
“I’m glad people were brave enough to come forward and stand up for themselves after all this time,” Aikens said.
Dow has filed responses to some of the lawsuits, denying the allegations.
Aikens said the lawsuits are still in the discovery process.
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