Overview: A never-ending barrage of racially offensive comments prompted a Black employee to quit his job, then contact the federal government.
The scenario: When Kevin Arceneaux, an African American man, started working for Don’s Specialty Meats, Scott, LA, he couldn’t help but notice that there was only one other Black crew member among the nearly 80 employees.
Arceneaux soon found out why there weren’t many Black folks working for the company. After he started his employment with Don’s, a manager told Arceneaux that the company was looking for more workers if he knew anyone who was interested, but he said that the applicant couldn’t be a Black person.
Worse for Arceneaux, the general manager had a bad habit of calling him “the Black boy,” or “the little Black boy.” In fact, when Arceneaux looked at his first weekly schedule, he didn’t find his name on it. Instead, the schedule read “Black boy.”
It was also commonplace for supervisors to use racial slurs in front of Arceneaux. One time, the general manager said, “There’s a difference between being a
n-gg-r and being a n-gga. Once you’re a n-gg-r, you’re always a n-gg-r.”Things came to a head one day when a supervisor called Arceneaux a “bitch-ass n-gg-r” in the presence of other managers. Arceneaux complained, and he was sent home for the day.
Fed up with the intolerable treatment, Arceneaux resigned, then contacted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Legal challenge: The EEOC sued Don’s Specialty Meats for race bias.
The ruling: The company lost. Don’s Specialty Meats agreed to pay $67,500 to Arceneaux in order to resolve the lawsuit.
Based on EEOC v. Don’s Specialty Meats.
(From the Feb. 4, 2022, issue of HR Managers Legal Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)