How is the Supreme Court confirmation going to go?

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10/14/2020 17:22

Subject: How is the Supreme Court confirmation going to go?

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Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh look. ACB unequivocally condemned racism and discrimination of any kind. I guess you detractors can’t keep claiming otherwise.

Sure, Jan. That’s why she wrote an opinion stating an employer’s use of the n-word does not create a hostile work environment for Black employees.

Once again, you’re throwing around sound bytes out of context simply to foment outrage. The “n-word” was not even entered as evidence of a hostile work environment - it occurred during the employee’s termination proceedings, and not before. The panel could not use that as evidence since it wasn’t presented as such. You really need to do your homework and learn a little something about the LAW. Hint: it doesn’t care about your emotions. Jan.

Yeah, Trumpy, we should take lessons in the law from you (I’m guessing a Cooley grad?). The use of the n-word was introduced into the record as evidence of pattern and practice for hostile work environment.

BS. You’re either particularly dense or purposely obtuse.

In Smith v. Illinois Department of Transportation, plaintiff Terry Smith, a Black Illinois transportation employee, brought a workplace discrimination lawsuit charging that the department had subjected him to a hostile work environment and fired him in retaliation for his complaints about racial discrimination. Smith lost his case in district court and appealed to the circuit court on which Barrett sat, where a three-judge panel (including Barrett) unanimously upheld the district court’s ruling:

“During his probationary employment period, Smith challenged and failed to follow directions, was confrontational, engaged in unsafe conduct, and received unsatisfactory evaluations. He filed internal and union complaints, alleging abusive language, docking his hours, and racial discrimination. The Illinois Department of Transportation discharged Smith. Smith sued the Department under Title VII, arguing that it had subjected him to a hostile work environment and fired him in retaliation for his complaints about racial discrimination … Given the extensive evidence that Smith was not meeting his employer’s legitimate expectations, a reasonable jury could not find that the Department fired him because of his protected activity rather than for his poor performance nor could a reasonable jury have resolved the hostile work environment claim in Smith’s favor.”

One of incidents Smith included in his case as evidence of his allegedly being subjected to race-based harassment that created a hostile work environment was his claim that a former supervisor named Lloyd Colbert called him the N-word.

Barrett dismissed that claim in her opinion, but not by flatly stating that “Being called the n-word does not constitute a hostile work environment.” Barrett’s point was much more nuanced. According to Barrett, at the time Smith said he was called “stupid ass n******” by a former supervisor, his relationship with his supervisors had long since become a contentious one for a multitude of reasons, and that single incident was not sufficient to support a claim of a racially-hostile work environment:

“We need not address the objective prong of the analysis, because Smith falters on the subjective prong. He introduced no evidence that Colbert’s use of the n-word changed his subjective experience of the workplace. To be sure, Smith testified that his time at the Department caused him psychological distress. But that was for reasons that predated his run-in with Colbert and had nothing to do with his race. His tenure at the Department was rocky from the outset because of his poor track record. He clashed with his supervisors over pay, and they confronted him with foul language. As early as August — the first month of his employment — he sent memoranda to the Department complaining of a “hostile work environment.” On Smith’s own account, his supervisors made him miserable throughout his employment at the Department. But as we have already discussed, he has no evidence that his supervisors were lashing out at him because he was black.”