John Elway's Dealership Named in Discrimination Lawsuit
A former employee at Denver Broncos legend John Elway’s car dealership has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Elway and his business partners.
The lawsuit which was filed on Jan. 9 states that John Elway's Manhattan Beach Toyota knowingly permitted a workplace culture of racial discrimination and harassment.
The lawsuit claims that superiors had refused to take the accusations seriously, according to KIRO.
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Former Sales Manager, Timothy Sandquist, filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of himself, current and former employees of color.
Darrell Sperber, the General Manager at John Elway's Toyota, is identified as the primary source of the extreme racial harassment. Sperber allegedly was the cause of frequent racial slurs towards non-Caucasian employees.
The suit also claims that Sperber encouraged employees of the dealership to make discriminatory statements and other racist comments about non-Caucasian customers who did not purchase a vehicle.
"It is beyond belief that anyone could ignore the pervasive racial discrimination and harassment that Mr. Sandquist and other employees experienced at John Elway's Manhattan Beach Toyota," Janette Wipper, one of the attorneys representing Sanquist said. "This workplace is the very epitome of a hostile work environment."
According to Sandquist, dealership employees who were a target of Sperber had no other options in reporting the incidents because all reporting for discrimination, harassment or abuse were funneled through Sperber.
The complaint alleges that employees who did complain about Sperber's harassment and discriminatory behavior received further harassment and sometimes resulting in termination.
It also alleged that employees of color experienced significant disparities in compensation, promotion opportunities in comparison to the dealership's Caucasian employees.
A lawyer for the dealership, James McDonald, says the lawsuit appears to have numerous inaccuracies and the allegations do not appear to have merit.
