The Justice Department alleges in the lawsuit that Bartow County officials exposed former employee Carlen Loyal to a racially hostile work environment and retaliated against him and former employee Bobby Turner - both African Americans - by firing them.
"In 2019, Loyal complained to his supervisor that a white co-worker sent him a text message referring to him as an n-word. After Loyal’s complaint, the human resources director called Loyal into his office, where he subjected Loyal to additional, severe racial harassment in front of the employee who sent the racist text message," the Justice Department said in a press release.
Bartow County officials accused the two men of misconduct and fired them after Loyal confessed to the human resources director that he informed Turner about the email, the release said.
According to the complaint, Loyal and Turner were each promoted several times and had no prior history of disciplinary action before Loyal complained about this instance of racial discrimination, the release said.
Loyal and Turner filed discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the EEOC’s Atlanta district office investigated the charges and found reasonable cause that the county violated Title VII, the release said.
After unsuccessful efforts to reconcile the issue, the EEOC referred the charges to the Justice Department, which followed up with a lawsuit to compel the county to put in place policies to prevent discrimination and retaliation, the release said.
The Justice Department also plans to secure monetary relief for both men and compensate them for the damages that they sustained as a result of the alleged discrimination and retaliation, the release added.
Title VII is a US federal statute that bars employers from discriminating on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin and religion. Title VII also forbids employers from retaliating against employees for complaining about discrimination in the workplace or otherwise asserting their rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.