Circle K Loses Millions In Discrimination Lawsuit

Four Vietnamese convenience store managers who said they were fired by Circle K Corp. because of their race were awarded $18.2 million by a federal jury. “Thank you, the United States of America,” Daniel Nguyen said Monday.

Nguyen was the manager of a Circle K store in Brookshire, west of Houston, until he was fired in 1993.

He and the other plaintiffs - Binh Trinh, Cat Phung and Chi Pham - contend they were dismissed for minor infractions because the chain wanted to get rid of its Vietnamese managers, attorney David L. Monroe said.

The jury on Friday ruled the men would share $2.2 million in back wages and compensation for emotional suffering. On Monday, it awarded them $4 million each in punitive damages.

In 1991, Circle K agreed to a $120,000 settlement of a racial discrimination charge by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The money went to two former supervisors who said they refused to fire all Vietnamese employees in Houston stores.