With the changing demographics nature of our nation’s population, it was inevitable that at some point a white employee would be able to claim harassment because of her race. In a case earlier in September this year the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a settlement by a former assistant prosecuting attorney in Hawaii who claimed she was discriminated against because she was white.
The prosecutor, Ms. Weigel, had worked on the island of Kauai in an office where her supervisor continually made disparaging comments that Weigel needed to “assimilate into the local culture.” She was told to dump her white boyfriend in favor of a local man.
The supervisor would talk about how staff who was white had to stop acting the “haole” way and act more like the local Hawaiians. The workplace harassment rose to such a level that the tension between Ms. Weigel and her boyfriend caused them to break up and she ended up moving back to the mainland.
The County agreed to compensate her $120,000 and to establish policies and training to make sure that whites would not be subjected to harassment.
The discrimination laws cut in both directions and it is obvious that as workforce populations change, racial discrimination victims may change with it. We represent employees of all types who are discriminated against in the workplace. If you feel you have been discriminated against, please contact one of our employment attorneys at (603) 288-1403 or complete our online contact form.