She reported race bias. Nine days later, she was suspended. Two weeks later, fired
Marriott is being sued by a Black senior manager who says her own HR team's "welcome" on day one was a racial stereotype.
Kimberly Lilly filed her complaint on May 1, 2026, in the US District Court for the Southern District of California. She brings claims for race discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, and recordkeeping violations under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act and Labor Code.
Lilly relocated from Texas in February 2025 to take the role of Senior Manager of STAR Events & Communications at the Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center in Chula Vista, which the complaint describes as a $1.3 billion property and the largest hotel ever constructed on the West Coast. She was the only Black employee on the Gaylord Pacific HR team.
According to the complaint, on Lilly's first day the Director of Learning & Development, April Chu Fryer, "welcomed" her by giving her the nickname "Lil Kim" and playing the rapper's music in front of the entire HR team. Lilly says the reference - to a Black female rapper known for an explicit, sexually provocative image - had nothing to do with her corporate role and left her feeling singled out as the only Black employee in the room.
The differential treatment, Lilly alleges, did not stop there. The filing says every other exempt manager on the team was given a private office, including one sitting empty as a...
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