BMW Worker Awarded $5.1 Million for Bias Based on US Citizenship

BMW Manufacturing Co. must pay $5.1 million to a former human resources planning department manager in South Carolina for discriminating against her because she’s a US citizen, a federal jury ruled.

The Bayerische Motoren Werke AG unit is liable to Kelly Dawsey for national origin bias under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the US District Court for the District of South Carolina jury said Wednesday following a seven-day trial before Judge Timothy M. Cain. The jury awarded Dawsey $100,000 in compensatory damages and imposed $5 million in punitive damages against BMW Manufacturing.

Cain ruled in September that ...