Former Employee Accuses Corning Incorporated of Discrimination

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Corning Incorporated is facing a proposed class and collective action filed by a former employee who claims the company discriminated against black and female employees by not offering the same opportunities for advancement as “non-black and male comparators.”

The plaintiff, a black woman, says she was hired by the company as a Marketing Consultant I, and, as far as she can tell, has been the only person at Corning to ever work in that position. She claims black and female employees are not offered traditional positions with clear tracks for promotion, but are instead placed in non-traditional roles that start at lower salaries and have “no steady stream of work assignments or track for promotion to a senior role.”

The suit further argues that the defendant subjects black and female employees to harsher performance reviews than their coworkers because their scores are rounded down.

“For example,” the complaint reads, “if the combined average score for a Black or female Professionals’ Manager and Participant scores is a 3.9, his or her overall performance review score will be rounded down to a 3, while the overall performance review score of a non-Black or male comparator will be rounded up to a 4.”

The plaintiff claims she applied for several positions within the company for which she was well-qualified and was denied interviews for each one. She says she complained to Corning’s Human Resources department about the alleged discrimination and was essentially ignored. She was eventually fired in alleged retaliation for voicing her concerns about the company’s supposedly illegal behavior.