Black worker laid off due to role elimination, then white worker gets his job, feds say
A Black project development manager was told he didn’t fit “company culture” and was fired because his role was being eliminated, federal officials said.
Then, a white worker with less experience got his job, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Now, Sureste Property Group and its divisions have agreed to settle the discrimination lawsuit for $75,000, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Nov. 4.
McClatchy News reached out to the company for comment Nov. 6 and did not immediately receive a response.
The man was hired as a project development manager at the real estate firm in Atlanta in November 2021, the lawsuit says. He had a masters of business administration degree and had over eight years of experience in commercial real estate, according to the lawsuit.
The other project development manager was a white woman, and federal officials said she worked fewer hours, had fewer projects assigned to her and was paid more.
The man said he often worked late and on weekends, and he said he did his job well, according to the suit.
Around June 2022, the company’s CEO told the man’s supervisor he was “lazy,” needed to be fired and his position was being eliminated, federal officials said.
The supervisor then told the man he was being fired due to his performance and because he didn’t fit “company culture,” the filing says.
A separation notice listed “role elimination” as the reason for his firing, according to the lawsuit.
About a month later, the company promoted the marketing manager, a white woman, to his role as project development manager, officials said. She didn’t have a college degree and had “no experience in project development,” but she received a raise and annual bonus, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in April, says the company violated the Civil Rights Act.
“Historically, (the company has) not afforded African American employees the same employment opportunities as white employees,” the lawsuit says.
The EEOC accused the company of racial discrimination, saying the “non-discriminatory reasons for terminating (his) employment are false and pretextual.”
As part of the consent decree, Sureste agrees not to discriminate or retaliate against any employees and agrees to educate and train employees on their rights.
This story was originally published November 6, 2024 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Black worker laid off due to role elimination, then white worker gets his job, feds say."