Kauai motorcycle dealership settles lawsuit

A motorcycle dealership on Kauai will pay $30,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of a former employee, according to a consent decree signed Tuesday by a federal judge.

The decree, signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang, also requires Aloha Auto Group Ltd. to implement specific measures for the next two years to ensure its compliance with federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on race and to prevent retaliation against employees.

The EEOC sued Aloha Auto in September 2016 on behalf of Daniel Young, who worked in the sales and rentals departments of the company’s Kauai Harley-­ Davidson dealership. The lawsuit says Aloha Auto fired Young in 2014 for telling other employees that they could file a complaint with the company’s human resources department or the EEOC over comments made by the dealership’s general manager.

According to the lawsuit, the general manager spoke with several Asian-American and Pacific Islander employees of the dealership’s service department and told them that their culture was so laid-back that they had no drive or ambition to work or to get things done.