Posted on: Thursday, June 24, 2004

Pearl Harbor mechanic's fight for promotion settled

Advertiser Staff

A boiler plant mechanic at Pearl Harbor will receive $140,000 and an immediate promotion to a supervisor position to settle a federal lawsuit in which he claims he was passed over for promotion several times because of his race.

Honolulu attorney Clayton Ikei, who represented Clifford Thomas, said Thomas began working for the Navy Public Works Division in 1982 after emigrating from the British West Indies and becoming a U.S. citizen.

After working on the job for eight years, Thomas applied for promotion to a foreman's position but was turned down, beginning what amounted to a 14-year discrimination battle, Ikei said.

Attorneys for the Navy and the U.S. government could not be reached for comment.