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Defunct Winners Corp. sued for discrimination
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Posted on Oct 21 2008
A woman has filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court against defunct garment manufacturer Winners Corp. after she was terminated allegedly due to her pregnancy.
Tham Thi Mai, a Vietnamese, asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to order Winners Corp. to pay her back pay from her last day of work to the date of her re-employment.
Mai, through counsel Pamela Brown, demanded for damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs.
Winners Corp. shut down in February, affecting the employment of 337 alien workers and 28 resident workers.
In the complaint filed Monday, Brown stated that Mai began working for Winners in November 2005; her contract expired Feb. 20, 2007.
Brown said Mai was the only Vietnamese on her sewing production line and one of the only four Vietnamese among 500 employees.
In October 2006, Mai learned that she was pregnant. She notified Meng Mei Shun, her line leader at Winners, about this.
Brown said that on Dec. 21, 2006, Winners’ owner/manager Ho Sik Min informed Mai that her contract would not be renewed.
The lawyer said the company renewed all non-Vietnamese workers on the sewing production line where Mai was assigned and hired additional non-Vietnamese alien workers at the factory.
Winners, according to Brown, failed and refused to renew Mai’s employment contract because of her pregnancy and her national origin.
Brown said the law prohibits Winners’ refusal to hire or to discharge Mai on the basis of her national origin.
