Lawyers Settle Racial Harassment Lawsuit

Lawyers with the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced in a January 14, 2010 Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/1-14-10.cfm that a car dealership will pay $140,000 to settle a race discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC.  According to the Press Release, EEOC lawyers charged in the case that a car dealership allowed a white male management consultant to subject an African American sales manager to a racially hostile work environment over a four month period.  As stated in Press Release, the white consultant visited the car dealership three to four times a week and never missed an opportunity to make racially derogatory comments towards the black sales manager.  The sales manager was allegedly subjected to humiliating and degrading comments every time the consultant visited the dealership and almost always in the presence of other people.  The EEOC Press Release further states that after the black sales manager complained about the derogatory comments, two white managers asked the consultant to stop his discriminatory behavior, but the consultant ignored their requests to cease and continued to make derogatory comments.  In the suit and consent decree, the company denied any liability or wrongdoing.

Whether workplace racial harassment occurs in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio or elsewhere, victims of race discrimination may contact the EEOC and a lawyer to determine if an employment discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential racial harassment claim.