EEOC Color Bias Lawsuit

Attorneys with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in a June 22, 2009 Press Release that the federal agency filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against a furniture company alleging that the business violated federal law when it permitted a store manager to harass a dark complexioned Puerto Rican employee because of his skin color and fired the employee for complaining.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/6-22-09b.html .  According to the EEOC Press Release, the store manager, who is also Puerto Rican, taunted the sales associate about his dark skin color and asked him why he was “so black.”  As further stated in the Press Release, the company retaliated against the sales associate by firing him after he complained about the harassment.  Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  An EEOC attorney quoted in the Press Release stated that “Harassment based on skin color can be just as humiliating and degrading as other forms of discrimination.”  In this regard, the EEOC noted that the EEOC has noticed a substantial increase over the past 15 years in discrimination charge filings based on color.

Whether employment discrimination based on skin color occurs in Baytown, Freeport, Corpus Christi or elsewhere, victims of workplace skin color bias may contact the EEOC and an attorney or lawyer to determine if an employment discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential skin color discrimination claim.