After a three-year-old lawsuit, a Plano car dealership must pay a former employee $22,500 for alleged racial discrimination.
According to the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Jonathon Sellers, a Black car salesman who previously worked at Autos of Dallas in Plano, participated in a December 2019 holiday party. During the event, management called him to the front and presented him with a trophy labeled as the employee "Least Likely to Be Seen in the Dark." Sellers and other attendees deemed the trophy offensive.
The EEOC's complaint alleges that Sellers brought the matter to the attention of Autos of Dallas' general manager, but no corrective measures were taken in response to his concerns. Upon returning to work after the holiday party, Sellers experienced teasing from fellow employees regarding the trophy and was subjected to offensive comments. According to The Dallas Morning News, Sellers quit shortly after the incident due to ridicule from coworkers.
According to the EEOC, the alleged conducts violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination based on race and color. The EEOC filed suit, Civil Action No. 4:21-CV-00418, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
“It is difficult to understand how almost 60 years after the passage of Title VII, with its prohibitions against employment discrimination, managers facilitate or permit blatant derogatory treatment based on an employee’s race or skin color,” EEOC Regional Attorney Robert Canino said in a statement. “Leadership of businesses, big or small, must communicate expectations clearly and demonstrate explicitly that discriminatory conduct will not be tolerated in the workplace.”
As part of the consent decree that settles the lawsuit, Autos of Dallas commits to conducting training for all its employees on issues related to race discrimination and race harassment, in addition to paying monetary damages. The two-year decree also prohibits Autos of Dallas from engaging in any unlawful employment practices that involve racial discrimination, including race harassment leading to a hostile work environment.
“We think it is important that in addition to resolving this case on behalf of Mr. Sellers, this consent decree also commits Autos of Dallas to training for all employees, management and non-management, on the laws prohibiting race harassment at work,” said Joel Clark, a senior trial attorney in the EEOC’s Dallas District Office.
Autos of Dallas agreed the trophy was distasteful, but denies any violation of the law. Local Profile reached out to the dealership for comment, but did not receive a response prior to publishing.
