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ARTICLE · 10 JUNE 2013

Why Would Employees Tease About Nooses In 2013?

Fisher Phillips LLP
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It’s bad enough when one has to defend against fabricated allegations about racial slurs and name calling, let alone when it apparently, in fact, happened.

United StatesEmployment and HR
Howard Mavity
Howard Mavity
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It was surprising and disappointing to read about a punitive damages award against a North Carolina employer who allegedly tolerated employees referring to an African-American coworker as a “coon” and offering him a hangman’s noose. It’s 2013, not 1960.

It’s bad enough when one has to defend against fabricated allegations about racial slurs and name calling, let alone when it apparently, in fact, happened. Such a situation is a nightmare for an employer, and to state the obvious, should never have occurred.  But never say that “it couldn’t happen in my company.”

How Could This Happen?

The conduct described in this case is reprehensible. But did it start somewhat innocently and escalate to something this terrible?  Was this a decent company asleep at the wheel and not a throwback to a place found in the recent movie, “Django Unchained”?

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