
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 3, 1994                   TAG: 9405030136
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FIRST UNION EX-WORKERS CHARGE BIAS

First Union Corp., parent of Roanoke-based First Union National Bank of Virginia, faces potential lawsuits charging discrimination in connection with layoffs that followed its 1993 mergers with Dominion Bankshares Corp. in Roanoke and with First American Metro Corp. in Northern Virginia.

Jonathan Rogers, a Roanoke lawyer, said Monday "there is that possibility" that he will file suit on behalf of two clients who claim they were fired because of discrimination.

Rogers said he had represented two other clients whose cases were settled when they won back their jobs.

He is negotiating with First Union in the other two cases, one in which the client charges race discrimination and the other in which the former employee accuses First Union of age discrimination.

Rogers said he does not know whether lawsuits will be necessary, but "I have been retained to settle or sue."

Another Roanoke lawyer, Terry N. Grimes, said Monday he represents six people who "believe they have claims" against First Union. All of them are middle-aged former managers who charge age discrimination.

If that many people are involved, he said, he believes there are other potential claimants in the Roanoke Valley.

About 1,200 jobs, 850 of them in Roanoke, were eliminated in 1992 and early 1993 in First Union's acquisition of Dominion. Many of them were middle- and upper-level managers with a great deal of seniority at Dominion.

But Grimes said that it's "virtually impossible to prevail in an age-discrimination suit in this part of Virginia." He said that's because the merger involved an overall reduction in the work force, not the firing of any single individual.

Also, rulings in federal courts in Virginia and the U.S. 4th Circuit Court, which oversees Virginia, make it difficult to get to trial, Grimes said.

The Roanoke-area suits come on top of a report by the American Banker, an industry newspaper, that 87 bias charges have been filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by former employees of First American Metro Corp., a McLean banking company acquired by First Union. The trade paper said that about 200 former First American employees plan to sue on the basis of age or race discrimination.

The newspaper said many of the potential plaintiffs were black, well-paid middle managers. They were fired after First Union acquired First American in February 1993, and virtually all of them are in Northern Virginia where First American was based. Since then, First Union has closed about 75 of the 124 branches in the Washington metro area.

The First American workers are being represented by Paul Sprenger, a Washington lawyer. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

David Scanzoni, a spokesman for First Union at its Charlotte, N.C., headquarters, said no discrimination suit has been filed against the company. He said "a handful" of complaints have been filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

There were eight such complaints filed in Northern Virginia, he said. One of those complaints appended a list of about 79 people who were said to be in a similar position.

Although he declined to comment on specific cases, citing personnel confidentiality laws, Scanzoni said employment decisions made during the merger process "were in no way discriminatory."

by CNB