Race bias: court sees hostile work environment.The US District Court for the Western District of Missouri Missouri, state, United States Missouri (mĭz  r`ē, –ə), one of the midwestern states of the United States. accepted
some of the allegations and overruled others in an African-American
aide's race discrimination lawsuit lawsuit: see procedure; tort. .
Differential Work Assignments The aide alleged the nursing home had an "easy" wing for its ambulatory Movable; revocable; subject to change; capable of alteration. An ambulatory court was the former name of the Court of King's Bench in England. It would convene wherever the king who presided over it could be found, moving its location as the king moved. low-maintenance patients and a "difficult" wing for its dependent, heavy-care patients. The easy wing, she claimed, was staffed by Caucasian Caucasian or Caucasoid: see race. employees and the difficult wing by African-Americans. On top of that, the difficult wing was often left understaffed when staff were pulled away to help out on the easy wing. If that was true, the court said, it would be a differential employment practice based on race, that is, discrimination. However, there was no solid evidence to support the aide's case on this point, the court ruled. Racially Hostile Work Environment A hostile work environment exists when an employee experiences workplace harassment and fears going to work because of the offensive, intimidating, or oppressive atmosphere generated by the harasser. The aide also claimed that racial jokes and offensive racial epithets were widely used by her supervisors and co-workers. The court agreed that offensive verbal remarks can create a racially hostile work environment. A hostile work environment is one of the forms that discrimination can take. Perrotta v. White Oak Manor, 2007 WL 3312164 (W.D. Mo., November 5, 2007). Racially offensive comments toward the plaintiff or toward other minorities, if not isolated incidents, can create a hostile work environment and can give the plaintiff grounds to sue for discrimination under Title VII of the US Civil Rights Act. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT United States District Court In the U.S., any of the 94 trial courts of general jurisdiction in the federal judicial system. Each state, as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, has at least one federal district court. MISSOURI November 5, 2007 |
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