White customer says to black employee that ‘n-gg-rs need to be exterminated’

Overview:

An African American female worker suffered a withering barrage of racially offensive statements, such as “n-gg-rs need to be exterminated.”

The scenario:

Marquita Williams, a black female employee of Lexington Treatment Centers, Lexington, NC, was upset when customers used the N word around her. Over the course of one year, Williams overheard the offensive word at least five times per month. At one point, one of her white female customers called Williams a “n-gg-r b-tch.”

To make matters worse, another white customer made racially offensive statements to Williams at least once a week, usually using the N word multiple times while doing so. Plus, that same customer said that “n-gg-rs need to be exterminated.” And he stated that “mixed race children need to be exterminated.” He even claimed that “n-gg-rs were taking over.” At one point, his comments became so extreme that Williams started shaking and crying.

Two other African American employees also faced a never-ending onslaught of racially offensive comments, including the frequent use of the N word.

Even worse, supervisors routinely reassigned the three African American workers from certain customers because the customers said they didn’t want to deal with black people.

The three staffers complained to their employer about the offensive conduct and remarks. However, managers failed to take any action to stamp out the troubling behavior or stop reassigning workers based on customers’ racial preferences.

Legal challenge:

Williams and the other two black workers contacted the EEOC, which sued for a racially hostile work environment.

The ruling:

The company lost. Lexington Treatment Centers agreed to pay $110,000 to make the EEOC lawsuit go away.

Based on EEOC v. Lexington Treatment Centers.

(From the Oct. 25, 2019 issue of HR Manager’s Legal Alert for Supervisors)