By Noelle Edwards
nedwards@salisburypost.com
An attorney for Salisbury Motor Co. sent a statement to the Post on Thursday that said claims of racial discrimination made in a complaint filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission “are not true and will be vigorously defended.”
In a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, the commission alleges Salisbury Motor Co. subjected former employee Glenn Bailey “to racial harassment that created a racially hostile work environment and to different terms and conditions of employment because of his race, African-American.”
The complaint alleges Bailey was called “racially derogatory” names by the president and principal dealer at Salisbury Motor Co. and was required to perform “non-job related menial and demeaning tasks” not required of his white co-workers at the West Innes Street auto dealership.
The lawsuit also claims Bailey was fired in 2008 “in retaliation for his complaints” about the discrimination.
The statement from Salisbury Motor Co.’s attorney said the company has not received court papers.
It said the company was “surprised and disappointed when it first learned of an apparent lawsuit brought against it” in a Wednesday Salisbury Post article about the commission’s complaint.
The Post contacted Donald Clement IV, general manager at Salisbury Motor Co., before the article ran. He declined to comment on the complaint.
The attorney’s statement also said, “The complainant, Mr. Bailey, was terminated for just cause after 3 years service. There were no complaints of discrimination until after he left the job.
“Salisbury Motor Company has been in business in this community for more than 90 years. Its record as a good corporate citizen and employer is exemplary and unblemished,” the attorney’s statement continued.
Officials with the Charlotte District office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission did not return a message on Thursday.