WASHINGTON-Key documents appear to contradict public statements by Cingular Wireless L.L.C. on workforce diversity allegations in three discrimination lawsuits and on a confidential report prepared by an outside consultant for the new No. 1 wireless carrier.
A redacted copy of the Scendis Report obtained by RCR Wireless News reveals racial, ethnic and gender tensions throughout Cingular. The redacted report includes questions posed by Scendis to a broad cross section of Cingular employees around the country and a sampling of their answers. The full Scendis Report includes questions and answers as well as analysis and recommendations on, among other things, “actions that Cingular might take to promote a more diverse workforce.”
Scendis L.L.C.’s self-described mission is to help firms prevent sensitive and high-risk workplace issues from becoming high-cost problems.
RCR Wireless News published a Sept. 20 story on allegations in the discrimination suits filed by several African-American men and a Hispanic man.
In an Oct. 4 letter to the editor, several Cingular executives took issue with the article. Five executives downplayed the lawsuits and said Cingular had a strong record in workforce diversity-particularly regarding senior management-that has been recognized by a number of magazines and by the Department of Labor.
Cingular’s executives also said in the letter that the fact that the story “mentions that we hired a consulting firm in the past to help us deal with diversity issues is just plain wrong.”
They continued, “We hired that consulting firm three months after Cingular was formed to help determine our culture-benefits, working conditions, etc.-that our employees would find attractive; and to identify the companies that have developed the exemplary type culture we wanted to create so we could bench against them.” The letter to the editor was signed by Ralph de la Vega, chief operating officer; Joaquin Carbonell, executive vice president-general counsel; Rick Bradley, executive vice president of human resources; Thaddeus Arroyo, chief information officer; and Carol Tacker, vice president-assistance general counsel corporate secretary and chief compliance officer.
Court filings and other documents, however, appear to show Scendis’ focus was far narrower than characterized by Cingular executives. Moreover, the documents raise questions about the executives’ statement on when Scendis was hired.
The key theme throughout the Scendis Report is workplace diversity. Indeed, the heading on the first page of the 26-page Scendis Report is Cingular Diversity Initiative Summary/Results of Focus Groups.
Separately, in an Aug. 27, 2003, sworn declaration in one of the discrimination suits in Chicago federal court, Russell K. Jensen, chief counsel, labor and human resources at Cingular Wireless, described a rationale for hiring Scendis that appears strikingly differently from the explanation of company executives in the Oct. 4 letter to the editor.
“Cingular Wireless determined that it should conduct a review of its diversity and affirmative action efforts to assist it in meeting its obligations under Executive Order 11246. Cingular Wireless, therefore, contracted with a third-party consulting firm known as Scendis, to assist its efforts in performing a self-critical analysis of the company’s diversity and affirmative-action efforts and success in achieving those goals,” said Jensen.
Executive Order 11246 is the Equal Employment Opportunity law of 1965.
Jensen said Cingular made the decision to review diversity issues in the summer of 2001, and it subsequently hired Scendis. The redacted Scendis Report does not include a date, and it is unclear when Cingular executives actually received copies of the unredacted report. However, Scendis states in the report the 22 focus groups and employee interviews were conducted in October 2001. While African-American men and women at Cingular were highly critical of their workplace environment, some Asian female and male employees and white male workers praised the company.
In their October letter to the editor, Cingular executives said the decision to contract with Scendis was made three months after Cingular was formed. Cingular was created in October 2000.
Asked for reaction on the redacted Scendis Report and why its contents as well as the sworn Jensen declaration appear at odds with Cingular executives’ public comments on the report and the discrimination lawsuits, Cingular declined to comment.
In an informal survey of workplace diversity at other nationwide wireless carriers, representatives at Sprint Corp., parent company of Sprint PCS; Verizon Wireless; and Nextel Communications Inc. said in phone interviews their firms had aggressive programs to promote diversity and inclusion. The firms declined to say whether they have faced discrimination lawsuits.
T-Mobile USA Inc. chose not to comment on the firm’s diversity programs. “We are an affirmative-action employer committed to equal employment opportunity,” said Richard Brudvik-Lindner, a T-Mobile spokesman.
In 2002, T-Mobile and Chicago-based Skyworld Communications Inc.-a bankrupt wireless dealer headed by an African-American man-reached a confidential settlement of a $23 million lawsuit with racial overtones.
“We feel good about it [diversity]. Not only is it the right thing to do. It’s the right thing for the marketplace we serve,” said Russell Wilkerson, director of corporate communications at Nextel.
In 2000, a slew of discrimination complaints were filed by Nextel employees-many African American-in 11 states. Nextel eventually settled with the employees.
