Black Factor's Legal Briefs

From time to time I’ll include posts called Legal Briefs, which provide updates on workplace discrimination, harassment, and/or retaliation lawsuits that have been recently filed or settled in civil court. The point is to let readers know what types of race-related cases have been filed and settled, as well as to provide a look at some of the legal language that is used by complainants in those cases. But, even more importantly, the legal briefs can help confirm that some of the issues readers are facing are in fact happening to other Blacks around the country and that these actions are often illegal.

I’ve been on the receiving end of questionable activities by an employer. So, I know that Black workers go through this mental back and forth…wondering if they are being sensitive or if they are blowing things out of proportion—as we are inevitably accused of by our supervisors or employers. I also know that we often wonder whether actions taken against us are illegal or if employers are within their rights to engage in certain activities.

For instance, in the last legal brief on a race discrimination case settled between Nike (Niketown-Chicago) and over 400 Black employees, the complainants alleged that Nike denied employment benefits to African-American employees by predominately hiring African-Americans into part-time rather than full-time positions and by denying appropriate benefits to those who, though officially part-time, worked enough hours to be entitled to full-time benefits.

I worked for one of the nation’s biggest department store chains, here in New York. Reading that blurb on Nike was like reading my complaints about this megastore. I went in for a job and supposedly only part-time jobs were available. The hours were so few that there weren’t any benefits involved with the position. But, I wanted to work. Anyway, almost immediately I was being asked to work until closing at the store (5 days a week) and I was being asked to work 10-11 hours on Saturday and Sunday.

You can see how the hours were piling up. I immediately wondered why I was listed as part-time, when I was working full-time hours. And, I wondered why there weren’t any benefits. Another worker warned me not to complain about not having benefits. She said that if I complained or asked about the hours, all of my hours would be cut and I would barely be given enough hours to warrant coming in at all.

What was really troubling about this megastore was that as I went floor-to-floor and looked at the staff, I saw that most of the people working on the floors were Black, Hispanic/Latino or Asian (Middle Eastern). Almost all of us were in these part-time jobs, but were working nearly full-time hours. In fact, my supervisor made it a point to mention (in a staff meeting) that only 2 of her 16 subordinates were full-time and that everyone else was part-time and was not eligible for benefits. She said that if we had a problem with that, we could find other work. She was supposed to be doing us all a favor by giving us hours—even without the benefits that would be required by this regular schedule.

I was out of there with a quickness because of this and other problems. However, other employees were trying to convince me that there wasn’t a legal issue with this megastore having almost all part-time staff (mainly minorities) working full-time schedules, but not receiving benefits. They thought it was up to the company’s discretion to make the decision on benefits.

You can call it common sense or not—that if you are working full-time you are entitled to benefits. However, common sense isn’t always common. Many people don’t know their rights and don’t want to challenge a systematic disregard for their rights.

If you look at the Niketown post, you will see that employer’s engaging in this practice may be liable for damages, if they are placing minorities into positions such as this and then are denying them their legally required benefits. This behavior may be illegal and should be questioned. Seeing the Niketown settlement just made my heart go out for everyone placed in the position of working their a**es off for peanuts and not getting the benefits they’ve earned through their sweat and dedication to their job. I felt that that job was a step above working on a plantation. We had absolutely no rights and no respect. And, the employees didn’t want to contact the union about it or make any waves because they desperately needed their jobs and were fearful of complaining.

I got out of there. Still, a chill ran down my spine seeing the same issue at the Niketown store with more than 400 employees raising the same complaint. As a result, I’d recommend that you don’t just skim the legal briefs. Really take a look at the allegations being filed. You might see some similarities to your own issues at work—even issues that you may not have realized were illegal. The legal briefs also provide a snapshot of the legal arguments used and of the legalese—the language—associated with certain violations of law/statutes.

If you are seeing similarities to the cases in the Legal Briefs, there might be language you can use or arguments you can make that more clearly represent your issues—from a legal standpoint. Of course, you aren’t looking at the cases and making false claims. But, you can definitely use the cases to assist you with your wording, improving your understanding of law, and to further develop your complaint by citing similar examples of illegal conduct.