March 31, 2025
Race Discrimination: The Ugly Truth
I almost did not write about this case because it’s just so ugly. And yet, I’ve read heard worse. In this case, a claim of race discrimination alleged “non-black” employees repeatedly and frequently hurled racial and profane remarks to a black coworker, Mr. Harris. The claim filed by the U.S. EEOC alleged:
- Jesus and other non-Black employees would gang up on Harris and call him the N
Word, B*tch, A**- hole, and other slurs and insults. - Jesus and other non-black coworkers would call Mr. Harris “the N-Word or use the epithet in front of him up to 15 times a day.”
- Several other colleagues said the N-Word routinely and casually, so much so that a former non-Black employee equated the slur to saying “Bro.”
Had enough? Yeah, me too. But did Harris do anything to stop it? He did. He told Jesus to stop, to which Jesus had some choice words including an F-bomb. The U.S. EEOC found that supervisory personnel including the General Manager were also aware of the harassing conduct.
What did they do to stop it? One or more supervisors did tell the coworkers to stop using the slurs. However, the coworkers did not stop doing so and none received corrective action or were fired. Eventually, Harris resigned “[b]elieving that he had no other choice.”
End result? On March 31st the parties settled. The employer agreed to pay $175,000 plus create, update, and/or distribute a variety of policies, procedures, provide training, and more.
Lesson learned. I find the court’s reference or description of Mr. Harris’ coworkers as “Non-black” interesting. I am surprising they were not Caucasian. This may serve as a reminder that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discriminate, including harassment, based on color as well as race. In the last few years I have heard more than one employee reference a coworker’s skin color or tone when trying to explain they they don’t “belong.”
Train your staff and management team members. Cover all forms of unlawful harassment and discrimination, including based on a person’s color or perceived race.
