Kodak sued for racial discrimination

Eastman Kodak Company's former and present black employees have sued the photographic giant for 'discrimination,' said agency reports in the US media.

The employees have alleged that Kodak paid blacks less than their white colleagues, promoted them less frequently, and allowed them to be harassed by their white counterparts.

Kodak has not made any immediate comment on the matter yet.

In a suit filed in New York federal district court, lawyers for the black plaintiffs accuse Kodak of discriminating against its black employees for more than a decade, and fostering a 'racially hostile work environment.'

The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive damages and calls for an end to the alleged discrimination. It also says that the company acted against African-Americans who had complained about this.

Ten black employees filed the class action suit, which covers over a 1,000 past and present workers.

The lawsuit has been filed in the Federal District Court in the Western District of New York.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said that although most of the workers who were 'discriminated against' worked at the company's Rochester, New York plant, the practice might have also extended to Kodak's other units too.

The suit follows a high-profile race discrimination suit against Xerox.