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Article

15 Jan 2006

Author:
Molly Moore, Washington Post

French Discrimination Suit Calls Égalité Into Question

Gerald Roffat, an intern at one of the world's largest temporary agencies [Adecco], helped launch a lawsuit alleging the firm used code to identify blacks and prevent them from being hired at some of Paris's best-known companies...The clients that refused to accept black employees for their most visible service jobs included some of the city's best-known hotels, restaurants and department stores, as well as local government agencies and the Foreign Ministry...Other clients, among them the Disneyland Resort Paris theme park, imposed limits on the number of black workers they accepted, [Roffat]...said...Tristan d'Avezac, a spokesman for Adecco, declined to comment on specifics of the complaint, citing a continuing investigation. But he said that in 2000 the company imposed a policy aimed at ending racial discrimination in its operations...According to d'Avezac, the company's current policy requires Adecco employees to avoid complicity or compliance with...discriminatory demands [from clients]...Case records show that Adecco employees have said they were told by Disney employees that minority referrals to Disney could not exceed about 20 percent...Pieter Boterman, a spokesman for Disneyland Resort Paris, declined to comment, citing the continuing investigation. He added, "Racism is absolutely not tolerated at Disney Resort Paris, as well as any other form of discrimination."