Employers are forbidden, under state law, to make decisions regarding a worker’s future based on any discriminating factor. This includes not allowing them to be paid equally, providing the same opportunities or refusing a chance to advance in the company when it is deserved based on merit. These types of acts by Texas employers and across the country are shameful, and many go unnoticed unless an employee speaks up about the discrimination to attempt to prevent it from happening to others in the future.
A former professor for the College of the Mainland worked for the school for 22 years. During that time, she worked her way through the ranks, starting with the school as a business teacher and then working her way up to becoming a long-standing professor. During her last eight years with the school, she also worked in some secretarial positions.
In 2011, the plaintiff claims that she thought that various situations in the college had some racial undertones. She was allegedly passed over for a Dean position and was also not chosen for a re-accreditation process. In her suit, she claims that she contacted the NAACP to discuss her concerns about the decisions that the school was making and how they could be considered discriminating. She also invited other faculty to speak out about the concerns and to participate in the meetings.
According to her complaint, in 2012 she discovered that her contract for the following term would not continue. She believes that the previous instances, as well as the school’s decision not to renew her contract, were all racially related. She filed a lawsuit against the school for discrimination and is looking to be awarded several types of damages, including her lost wages. She is also seeking restitution for the damage to her reputation as well as punishment against the Texas college for their actions against her so that similar actions will not occur in the future.
Source: The Southeast Texas Record, “Tenured professor sues college after contract isn’t renewed“, Melody Dareing, May 1, 2014
