An employment discrimination lawsuit against contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) might soon be expanded after a hearing in a federal court in San Jose, California, on Tuesday to add 15 plaintiffs to the case.
According to a court document, the lawsuit, which was refiled in November last year as a form of a class action with 13 plaintiffs in California, wants to add 15 plaintiffs from Arizona, where TSMC is building up its wafer fab capacity.
TSMC first committed between 2020 and last year to invest US$65 billion in three advanced wafer fabs in Arizona.
Photo: CNA
It then pledged an additional US$100 billion last month to build three more fabs, two integrated circuit assembly plants, and one research and development center in Arizona.
The employment discrimination lawsuit was first submitted in August last year on behalf of Deborah Howington, who reportedly began working for TSMC in February 2023 as a deputy director for talent acquisition at a company office in San Jose.
The refiled complaint in November last year alleged that as of Dec. 31, 2023, the vast majority of TSMC’s 2,668 workers in North America were from Taiwan and China.
That showed an “intentional pattern and practice of employment discrimination against individuals who are not of East Asian race, not of Taiwanese or Chinese national origin, and who are not citizens of Taiwan or China,” the complaint said.
These include “discrimination in hiring, staffing, promotion, and retention/termination decisions,” it said.
“TSMC routinely subjects non-East Asians (including those who are not of Taiwanese or Chinese descent) to a hostile work environment where verbal abuse, gaslighting, isolation and humiliation is common, and oftentimes leads to the constructive discharge of these employees,” the complaint said.
The plaintiffs claimed executives in TSMC’s US facilities often lashed out and shouted at them in public just because they were Americans, saying they were described as “lazy” and “stupid.”
TSMC has denied the accusations.
During the hearing, Howington’s lawyer Daniel Kotchen said the additional 15 plaintiffs would provide extra critical evidence to prove TSMC’s systematic discriminatory practices in the case, and their participation would help the case proceed in favor of the plaintiffs.
In response, TSMC lawyer Fletcher Alford said at the hearing that it was inappropriate for 15 plaintiffs from Arizona to file a suit against an Arizona employer in California.
At the same time, the case has proceeded for more than seven months and both sides wanted to expedite the trial, especially with TSMC set to expand its investments in North America, he added.
Given that, Alford said it was hard to see how increasing the class action suit would accelerate the case, and he urged the court not to grant the motion to add plaintiffs.
Judge Virginia DeMarchi said the case was challenging because new plaintiffs wanted to join the class action, but were also filing individual claims.
TSMC was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday’s hearing.
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