The personal lives of Texas employees should not affect their professional lives. A former long-time employee of AT&T claims that her superiors had problems with her interracial relationship and took it out on her at work. She is suing the company for workplace discrimination in an attempt to seek justice.
The plaintiff — who happens to be black — was a manager at AT&T. In early 2014, the people to whom she directly reported changed. She began reporting to an area manager and another higher-ranking manager who were both white women. After nearly a year of reporting to them, they became aware that she was involved in a relationship with a white man. She claims that once the managers found out, her work environment changed.
A month later, after returning from a vacation, the plaintiff claims her area manager began evaluating her performance with increased scrutiny. Although her co-workers also had their calls monitored, she claims that, suddenly, more of hers were under scrutiny. This increased monitoring led to her having improvement meetings with her other new manager at the area manager’s insistence. While in these meetings, her manager allegedly could not point out specific complaints about her work.
The plaintiff felt she was the victim of workplace discrimination, so she called the company’s complaint hotline and explained what was happening to her. She claims the hotline did not provide her with any help, and she was fired shortly thereafter because her work performance had allegedly not improved. She filed a complaint against AT&T for discrimination and is seeking financial redress and other damages to which she believes she is entitled. Discrimination is a serious issue that affects many employees in Texas and elsewhere. Those who feel they are victims have the right to pursue legal actions.
Source: pennrecord.com, “Longtime AT&T employee sues company over racial discrimination claims“, Gene Johnson, Oct. 23, 2015
