A former employee at Anheuser-Busch Inc.’s brewery in Williamsburg has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit, claiming the beer company paid white coworkers higher salaries.
Gladys Y. Brown filed a civil complaint against Anheuser-Busch on May 11, alleging that her former employer discriminated against her because she is black, according to court records.
According to the complaint, Brown started working for the company in January 2012 and served most recently as a planner and scheduler.
The complaint alleges Brown’s white coworkers were paid at least $9,869 more than she was for performing the same duties.
“Defendant was well aware of the fact that Mrs. Brown endured repeated harassment and mistreatment from Defendant because of her race, Black, but took no action to correct the situation,” a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. Eastern District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia reads.
Brown is asking for compensatory damages of $500,000 and punitive damages of $2 million, records show.
Brown also is seeking back pay, prejudgment interest and “appropriate recovery” for lost employment benefits.
“I’m hopeful they will take it seriously,” said Barry Rowell, Brown’s attorney. “Hopefully on a corporate level they’ll take a look at the facts and get it corrected.”
An attorney for Anheuser-Busch is not listed on the case information page.
The complaint states Brown was promoted to the planner and scheduler position in May 2016 after applying in April. Before Brown was promoted, the position had initially been posted online with a salary range of $52,211 to $65,280.
Shortly after telling her supervisor she intended to apply, Brown received an email with information on the position, which included a salary in a lower pay bracket, between $47,654 and $59,568.
Despite asking for explanations of the discrepancy in listed pay for the position, Brown was unable to get a clear answer, documents allege.
Brown was promoted and given a salary in the lower pay bracket.
The same position was later listed online for two other Anheuser-Busch company locations, both of which listed the salary in the higher pay bracket — more than when Brown was promoted to, the complaint states.
The women hired for the jobs, both of whom were white, were paid at least $60,384, according to documents.
After discovering the discrepancy in pay, Brown reported the alleged discrimination to Anheuser-Busch’s employee hotline. She did not receive a call back.
Brown then filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission in July 2016, which eventually issued a right to sue letter.
Brown allegedly began to experience “retaliatory behavior” from her supervisor at work after she filed the complaint with the EEOC, including additional tasks she was not trained to do, working without assistance and working more hours without compensation.
In July 2017, Brown’s position was eliminated after her supervisor announced the brewery was downsizing its planner and scheduler staff by one person.
Brown was informed her previous position, administrative assistant, was also subject to the downsizing, meaning she could not return to that position.
The administrative position was later filled by another Anheuser-Busch employee and was not eliminated, the complaint said.
As part of the lawsuit, Brown is demanding a jury trial.
Fearing can be reached at [email protected].
