Outsourcing blues: Caremark in court

DALLAS: Discrimination at work, death threats, insults such as “brown-skinned bitch”, “dirty Indian” were among what Neelima Tirumalasetti received after her employer announced that it would outsource its work to IBM India.

She has since filed a suit in federal court, Texas, against Caremark RX, Inc. and its subsidiary CaremarkPCS for anti-Indian harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.

India-born US citizen Tirumalasetti, who was working with Caremark's Richardson, TX facility, as a senior IT analyst in quality assurance, alleged that she became the target of widespread anti-outsourcing remarks. She was targeted after Caremark announced in December 2003 that it would be outsourcing Richardson work to IBM India.

The lawsuit states that Tirumalasetti's co-workers repeatedly called her “brown-skinned bitch,” “dirty Indian,” and other insults, accused her of coming to the U.S. to “take their jobs,” mocked her accent in team meetings, and excluded her work projects.

“Hoping for some relief, I reported the harassment to my manager, my manager's direct supervisor, Human Resources, two vice presidents and even Caremark's Ethics hotline, but the reports made matters worse,” says Tirumalasetti.

She states in the lawsuit that after reporting harassment Caremark removed her team leader responsibilities on a large project, isolated her from prime work assignments, began auditing her work daily, denied her pay, and blocked her access to leave.

The lawsuit also reveals that, days after Caremark requested Tirumalasetti to confidentially disclose the names of co-workers responsible for her racial and ethnic harassment, Tirumalasetti received death threats at work.

According to the lawsuit, Caremark originally told Tirumalasetti that she was making up the harassment as well as faking the physical symptoms of her escalating workplace stress, which repeatedly landed her in the hospital. The lawsuit states that Caremark later conceded that Tirumalasetti was the victim of harassment, but concluded that the harassment was understandable given Caremark's employees' concerns about outsourcing to India.

Caremark even prohibited Tirumalasetti from working from home to avoid the continued harassment, a privilege enjoyed by other employees.

The lawsuit shows that Tirumalasetti suffered a final emotional breakdown after Caremark reassigned her to report to a co-worker she identified as one of her chief harassers-a more junior employee-and this co-worker stated that she would “kill the bitch who complained.”

Caremark sent Tirumalasetti a termination letter after she reported her situation to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Caremark's investors deserve to know how the company conducts itself behind closed doors,” Tirumalasetti states. “This lawsuit is about dignity and assuring that all employees are treated equally regardless of their national origin, race, or ethnic background.”