PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A class action lawsuit against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has been refiled with over 30 current and former employees, claiming the company engages in discriminatory practices.
The suit was initially filed in November 2024, when a group of about a dozen employees voiced complaints about the company’s alleged “anti-American” bias that favors Taiwanese workers over those from the U.S. The lawsuit also outlines what the workers describe as a hostile work environment and unsafe working conditions.
One of the plaintiffs, Phillip Sterbinsky, is a former TSMC senior technician who claims to have experienced the company’s harassment firsthand.
Sterbinsky said in the court paperwork on multiple occasions that he was frequently yelled at by managers and called “stupid and lazy.” He also claims he heard Taiwanese employees say that “Black people are lazy and smell.” By the time Sterbinsky left his department in 2024, he was the only non-Chinese and non-Taiwanese hire left on his team, according to the suit.
The lawsuit claims the company “willfully disregarded diversity commitments TSMC made in the CHIPS Act,” noting that as of 2023, half of the workforce in Phoenix consists of visa holders from Taiwan.
“If you are receiving federal funding to create jobs in the U.S., it is your responsibility to live up to the rules and laws under the U.S.,” Daniel Kotchen, one of the attorneys who filed the case, said in a previous interview with Arizona’s Family.
Complaints by employees about the company’s safety, including deadly violations, have gone ignored, according to the lawsuit.
Another plaintiff, Marcus Hernandez, claims to have witnessed multiple safety violations during his six months as an equipment technician at TSMC Arizona.
Hernandez claims his managers would pressure him to turn on the chemical supply to the fab machines without proper safety gear on. The lawsuit expands on this claim, stating that the task is so hazardous that the safety team was required to sign off before the supply was turned on.
The suit goes on to claim that the company “attempted to buy safety harnesses from Temu—a retailer known to sell products with safety and quality control issues that is under federal investigation, but backed off only after outcry.”
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