Georgia Power Co. Hit With Discrimination Suit

Jet, August 14, 2000

A race discrimination lawsuit has been filed against Southern Company's Georgia Power Co. unit, a major Atlanta-based electric utility company.

The suit, filed in Superior Court in Fulton County, GA, alleges that Georgia Power discriminates against Blacks in hiring and promotions.

The suit seeks class-action status for about 2,000 workers and was filed on behalf of three Georgia Power employees by lawyers from the law firm, Bondurant, Mixson & Ellmore LLP, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The suit maintains there are not enough Blacks in senior-level management positions. The suit alleges that Blacks make up about 19 percent of the company's work force, but only 22 of the company's top 408 employees were Black as of December, 1998, the Journal reported. The suit also alleges that only 83 of 1,602 Black employees were in managerial or supervisory positions. It also states that Blacks were harassed on the job.

David M. Ratcliffe, Georgia Power's president and CEO, told the Wall Street Journal during an interview that he would investigate the allegations. "I intend to thoroughly investigate every single one of the allegations. To the extent that I can validate there is any wrongdoing, we will deal with that and the individuals involved."