It is sad to believe that people are still being evaluated by the color of their skin in the workplace. An employee cannot work effectively if he or she is treated disrespectfully or are being subjected to hostility. Sometimes the work environment can be so unhealthy that it may cause an employee to resign voluntarily just to escape it. This was apparently the case for a Texas woman who recently left her employer and is now fighting back with a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination.
A former credit specialist claims that she was being treated unfairly by her superior due to her race. She states that she was disciplined for her work being inadequate without any type of proof supplied as to why her performance was being evaluated as such. Her corporate credit manager also spoke to her disrespectfully regarding other black people with whom he had worked. He allegedly stated that he believed that those black people all lived in poor neighborhoods, were on drugs and relying on public assistance programs. These comments were highly offensive to the plaintiff.
The managers supposed abuse was not confined only to the African-American plaintiff. There were also petitions from other team members like the plaintiff who claimed that they were belittled and mistreated while other employees were treated respectfully. The woman also reached out to personnel to file a grievance about her employer’s activities, but allegedly the process was halted because of a friendship between human resources and the manager. She has also made a request for her salary to be increased, but the request was denied. After all of these instances, the woman resigned.
Treatment of all employees in the workplace should be equal and it is sad to believe that this type of abuse is still happening in Texas. To put an end to workplace discrimination, anyone who believes that they are a victim of this abuse may wish to find out what their rights are under the law. Basing the worth of an employee on the color of their skin or racial ethnicity should remain a thing of the past.
Source: Southeast Texas Record, Houston woman sues over forced resignation from flooring company, John Suayan, Dec. 19, 2013
