Louisiana Health Care Provider Sued by EEOC for Race Harassment and Retaliation

The Council for the Advancement of Social Services and Education, doing business as CASSE Community Health Institute, violated federal law when it subjected a Black employee to a hostile work environment on the basis of her race and fired her after she complained about racially offensive workplace conduct, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed on June 15, 2023.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, in June 2020, a Black employee working at CASSE’s clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana complained to CASSE that its dental director made racially offensive comments about racial justice protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. The employee alleged that the dental director proposed putting on blackface and going rioting and looting.

The employee further complained that the dental director singled her out as the only Black employee in a room full of white coworkers and questioned her whether she attended the protests. After CASSE’s chief executive officer learned about the employee’s internal complaint, she immediately placed the employee on unpaid administrative leave and terminated her.

Racially harassing conduct that alters the terms and conditions of the workplace violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. Title VII also prohibits discharging an employee because of their race or retaliating against any person who complains of or opposes racially offensive conduct in the workplace.

The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana (Civil Action No. 5:23-cv-00808) after first trying to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Source: EEOC

Topics Lawsuits Louisiana