Bully/A-Hole Ticket Promises to Stir-Up More Workplace Bias

Today, ProfLERoy takes readers to a lawsuit involving white workers, who were viewing the Republican National Convention while at work in 2004, and simultaneously harassing a black, female co-worker. The case is Williams v. CSX Transp. Co., Inc., 643 F.3d 502 (6th Cir. 2011). According to Stephanie Williams, Jeff Wingo and Tim Magargle, two supervisors, were watching the Republican National Convention on television on the evening of September 2, 2004 when Williams entered and indicated she did not want to watch. Wingo allegedly told Williams that she was a Democrat only because she was a black woman; that unmarried women cannot “have the love of God in their heart[s]”; and that this country should “get rid of” Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton because without those two “monkeys” the country “would be a whole lot better.” The following day, Williams alleged that Wingo told her that if she returned to school, she would not have to pay for her education because she was a single black mother.... Wingo also asked Williams why black people cannot name their children “stuff that people can pronounce, like John or Sue.” It got worse for Stephanie: “Ed Anderson, a supervisor, required her to clean feces off the walls of a restroom and out of a urinal, and that her white male counterparts never had to complete such a task.” The district and appeals courts dismissed her lawsuit because the conduct of her harassers was not pervasive or severe. The location of the court probably had something to do with the outcome: Tennessee. Trump won Tennessee yesterday, besting second-place Ted Cruz by a 38.9% to 24.7% tally.