The lawsuit names Monique Donaldson, a former Microsoft program
manager, who claims she was given a poor evaluation by her boss
because of his racial and gender bias and because she was later
denied another job at the company.
Ms Donaldson is being represented by the US firm of Cohen,
Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, which has earned a name for major
cases of this kind. It was the principal firm involved in resolving
a race discrimination case against Texaco in 1997 for $176 million
when company officials were alleged to have engaged in racial
discrimination.
According to Cohen Milstein's Managing Partner, Steven Toll, the
complaint against the software giant alleges that, “Microsoft has
allowed managers to make basic personnel decisions based on
individual bias rather than merit.” It also claims that the company
engaged in a “pattern and practice of race and sex discrimination
and retaliation.”
