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BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A Baton Rouge furniture store is being accused of violating federal law when a Black employee was called a racial slur and then fired for reporting it.
According to the lawsuit filed Monday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a white account manager at Affordable Home Furnishings’ Florida Boulevard store repeatedly used the word while working with the manager-in-training.
According to the lawsuit, the employee asked him not to use the offensive word and reported it to an assistant store manager when it didn’t stop.
The assistant store manager is alleged to have used the word herself, which was reported to the store manager.
Several days later, Affordable Home Furnishings fired the manager-in-training, due to poor performance.
According to the EEOC, such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race and retaliation.
“Few words are as insulting, contemptuous, and reprehensible as the ‘n’ word—no one should have to hear it while doing their job, and no one should lose their job for asking others not to use it,” said Andrew Kingsley, a senior trial attorney in the EEOC’s New Orleans Field Office.
Affordable Home Furnishings has not responded to BRPROUD’s request for a comment on the lawsuit.
Click here to read the full lawsuit.
