FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leisa Goodman (323) 960-3500 March 26, 1999
GE Capital moves to halt religious discrimination in its German subsidiary
Following a request by a human rights attorney for the Church of Scientology International, GE Capital has taken action to stamp out religious discrimination in its German subsiduary, CompuNet. The company has ordered CompuNet to stop demanding that prospective employees sign a declaration that they are not members of the Church of Scientology and do not make use of principles developed by the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.
The “filters” have been urged on the private sector by German officials, despite criticism of discriminatory German government practices in five successive U.S. State Department human rights reports and more than 15 other reports by the U.N. Human Rights Committee and human rights bodies.
Attorney for the Church William C. Walsh of the Washington, D.C. firm Bisceglie & Walsh, alerted GE Capital last month that CompuNet’s use of a “filter” to screen individuals based on their religion or belief violates international human rights laws. Walsh asked for the American company’s intervention to protect the rights of German citizens targetted by CompuNet’s discriminatory practices.
GE’s vice president and general counsel Stanley Witkow responded that following a complaint by a German Scientologist, GE had already investigated the matter and ordered CompuNet to discontinue use of the filter on the grounds that it violated the company’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy.
Said Walsh, “GE Capital’s swift action to rid their German subsidiary of this atrocious violation of fundamental human rights is laudatory. Discrimination based on an individual’s religious belief is intolerable in a free society.” Walsh said he hoped that the new German government would reverse policies implemented under the Kohl administration and which had created “a climate of religious intolerance.”
GE is the second American company to order German subsidiaries to stop using “sect filters” to bar individuals from employment because of their religion. Ford Motor Company also intervened and ordered its German subsidiary to cease using the filters.
Walsh favorably contrasted GE Capital and Ford’s action with that of BMG Entertainment and Lufthansa, both of which have refused to stop using the filters despite being alerted in writing that they are in flagrant violation of international human rights standards. .
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