Employees Sue UPS For Discrimination Citing Slurs, Nooses In Warehouse

United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) is being sued by 19 employees at an Ohio distribution center who allege the company fostered a "racially hostile work environment."

The lawsuit, filed in the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas on March 13, accuses UPS and five specific supervisors of "enabling and tolerating" a racist culture in the Maumee facility.

"The Defendants have maintained a hostile work environment through these employment decisions, as well as by tolerating, and failing to remedy known racist comments and conduct," the lawsuit claims. "They have promoted and tolerated an atmosphere of racism in which individual employees feel free to display overt racial biases through conduct."

The lawsuit calls for compensatory damages exceeding $25,000, legal fees and an undetermined amount of punitive damages for the plaintiffs who say they experienced incidents of apparent racism from white co-workers and supervisors.

In July 2016, a defendant reportedly hung nooses above the workstation of an African-American employee, after which the defendant was fired, but the plaintiff was allegedly told not to discuss or photograph the incident.

Just days after the noose incident, another African-American employee reports receiving text messages from white co-workers in a group chat referencing potential lottery winnings, asking "can we buy another noose with the winnings," and "If you feel down and out, the noose is loose," but no disciplinary action was taken when the issue was taken to management.

In September of the same year, an employee was fired after referring to a minority neighborhood as "N-----ville" and refusing to deliver a package, but was reinstated to her position almost immediately, according to the suit.

Other incidents in the lawsuit include:

A slur written in bathroom graffiti

Employees using racial slurs toward and in the presence of African-American employees

Talking about attending a Ku Klux Klan meeting and buying rope to "hang ‘em high"

Displaying a cellphone video hangman game with an African-American effigy

Posing a large monkey doll dressed as a UPS employee at the top of a ladder near the work stations of African-American employees.

Read more: Employees Sue UPS For Discrimination Citing Slurs, Nooses In Warehouse

Black employees file discrimination suit against CNN, Turner

Current and former black employees of Time Warner, owner of Turner networks including CNN, TNT and TBS, have filed a class-action racial discrimination suit against the company.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Georgia says there has been a pattern of discrimination against blacks, particularly black males, in evaluations, compensation and promotions, at CNN, its parent Turner and Time Warner. The lawsuit says African-Americans make up 30 to 35 percent of employees in mid-level managerial and staffing positions at Turner and CNN but are underrepresented at higher pay grades and in senior positions.

The plaintiffs are seeking lost wages and other damages. CNN and Turner spokeswoman Barbara Levin said the company had no comment.

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Airbnb makes changes to halt racist, discriminatory practices

Airbnb announced potentially far-reaching anti-discrimination policies Thursday in response to complaints about hosts' racism against black and other Airbnb guests that came to the fore in the spring, crystalizing around the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack.

One change automatically blocks out a host’s reservation calendar for dates they have told a would-be guest are not available. This is to deal with a problem African-Americans and others have described: after requesting a booking, they're told the listing is no longer available, only to find the booking is still available when someone with a profile photo that shows them to be white, or obscures their race, inquires about it.

The new features will be implemented in the first half of 2017, Airbnb said.

Read more: Airbnb makes changes to halt racist, discriminatory practices

How many 'other Fergusons' are there?

What happened in Ferguson could happen elsewhere in America.

That’s the message from experts on race relations and from an analysis of census data about American cities following the protests in the St. Louis suburb that erupted after the shooting death of an unarmed black 18-year-old at the hands of a white police officer.

Ferguson, Mo., may be an extreme example, but it’s part of a larger pattern in which many US communities have police forces that don’t come close to mirroring the racial composition of the populations they serve. Even where Ferguson-style gaps between the police and wider community don’t exist, it’s common across the United States for blacks to feel that the criminal-justice system is stacked against them and that political power eludes them.

What that means is that, despite the real progress the nation has made on race relations, another tragic occurrence similar to the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson could spark street protests in other US cities.

Read more: How many 'other Fergusons' are there?

Employee’s Suit Accuses Tiffany of Racial Bias

A group director for the jewelry retailer Tiffany & Company sued the company in federal court on Thursday, accusing his employer of a “systemic, nationwide pattern and practice of racial discrimination.”

According to the complaint, of the more than 200 management positions that represent Tiffany to the public, a range that includes executive officers, store directors and members of the board of directors, only one is held by an African-American employee: Michael McClure, the plaintiff in this lawsuit.

Robert D. Kraus, the lawyer representing Mr. McClure, says that pattern, along with his client’s experience, demonstrates “racial bias in the belief, conscious or otherwise, that African-Americans are not appropriate ambassadors for the iconic, luxurious and sophisticated Tiffany brand.”

Read more: Employee’s Suit Accuses Tiffany of Racial Bias