A recent federal appeals court ruling could broaden the horizons of what kinds of mistreatment can lead to legal liability for a hostile workplace.
A split panel on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided to reinstate the case of the only nonwhite employee at a Florida commercial trucking company who claimed he was subjected to a hostile work environment, and was fired and faced retaliation over his race.
In this decision, the court found that racist remarks white colleagues allegedly often made about nonwhite customers bolstered the plaintiff’s discrimination claims about the racism he experienced because, as the only person from a historically underrepresented group, he was part of the “out-group” in the workplace.
In his complaint, the plaintiff alleged it was “a normal practice” for his bosses at I-10 Trucking to make demeaning comments about customers who were not white and to pass them off to him when possible. When Black customers paid with cash, his boss would joke that they must have gotten the money through criminal means.
The district court tossed out the plaintiff’s claims of unfair termination and retaliation, but the 11th Circuit revived his allegations of a hostile work environment, sending them back to trial.
Judge William Pryor said the case demonstrates that “an employee’s complaint of a racially hostile work environment can be supported by evidence of discrimination in his workplace against all racial...
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