Racial Discrimination Case Passes Legal Hurdle
US Judge Stewart Dalzell of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania green-lighted plaintiff Anthony McClease’s lawsuit against R.R. Donnelley & Sons even though state law doesn’t recognize any employment contract between the two, according to a Legal Intelligencer report.
Dalzell ruled that “all employment relations are contractual in nature” for the purposes of being able to seek relief under federal anti-discrimination law.
Supervisor Alleged to have Made Racist Remarks
According to court papers, McClease was hired as
a temporary worker in a parcel distribution facility in
Levittown, Pa., that was owned by Donnelley and
operated by Genco Corp.
The suit says Genco had
contracted with Source One, a temporary employment
agency, to provide workers for the facility. McClease
was one of those workers. Within a week of his hiring,
McClease claims, Genco hired a racist and put him in
charge, the Legal Intelligencer said.
The suit alleges that Mike
Michniewski began to subject minority employees to an
unceasing stream of racial epithets and openly
expressed his desire to eliminate blacks from the
facility, according to the Legal Intelligencer
report.
According to the complaint,
Michniewski referred to black employees as “f—ing
monkeys” and called them a “basketball team.”
At one point, the suit says,
Michniewski stated that he wanted to “get a bunch of
Orientals. I know they stink, but they piss on
themselves instead of going to the bathroom, just to
get the job done, ” the Legal Intelligencer
reported.
After Asian workers were hired,
Michniewski allegedly told McClease: “There are so many
gooks in here we could make a war movie.”
The suit alleges that another
manager also made racist comments and colluded with
Michniewski in eliminating black employees.
McClease was ultimately fired
from his post in April 2001.
Dalzell also rejected a defense
argument that McClease failed to allege a valid claim
of intentional infliction of emotional distress since
he didn’t allege any physical harm.
The defense lawyers, Dalzell
said, “seem to have overlooked Pennsylvania cases that
have held that physical harm includes ‘ongoing mental
… and emotional harm.'”