A 59-year-old Black Farmers Insurance sales agent has settled her lawsuit in which she alleged she was subjected to racial discrimination by an employer that preferred younger white and Latino employees.
Shelia Richards’ Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations included race, age and gender discrimination as well as retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
On Tuesday, Farmers attorneys filed court papers with Judge Kristin Escalante notifying her of a “conditional” resolution of the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by May 21.
No terms were divulged.
Richards, a Fontana resident, is currently representing herself in the suit she filed in November 2022. In their previous court papers, Farmers attorneys denied any wrongdoing or liability on the insurer’s part.
Richards began working for Farmers in November 2016 after inheriting the Farmers agency of her late husband, Ronald Richards, through a living trust he had managed since 1989, the suit stated.
Richards at the time was one of Farmers’ top agents and has earned many accolades, including having the largest book of business in the Inland Empire and earning Farmers’ Blue Vase award, which is presented to a select group of employees who have demonstrated exceptional service and sales in the area of life insurance, the suit stated.
But Richards frequently complained to Farmers management that she was being discriminated against and harassed, in part because of her age and race, the suit stated. Richards alleged that Farmers wrongfully began transferring her “well-developed book of business” to younger, less experienced and less qualified sales agents, many of whom were either white or Latino.
She also advocated on behalf of others at Farmers who were subjected to some of the same alleged disparate treatment, according to her suit.
Farmers allegedly failed to pay Richards for commissions earned from her two books of business, the suit stated.
When Richards told a supervisor she wanted to read an important document before deciding whether to sign it, the boss, who also is Black, replied, “That’s why I don’t like dealing with Black women, they always want to read stuff,” the suit stated.
When Richards asked the supervisor in 2017 why he allegedly treated her without respect, the boss allegedly replied, “I don’t like Black women,” the suit stated.