Individuals may be subjected to a variety of forms of racial discrimination at work. For African-American workers, perhaps the most extreme form of harassment is to be called the “n-word.” This slur, which some federal appeals courts have called “probably the most offensive word in English,” can be enough to constitute a hostile work environment under federal law, even if its use occurs only once. Just a single use may, depending on surrounding factors, be enough to qualify as sufficiently “severe.” If you have put up with racial slurs at your job, you should talk to an experienced New York race discrimination lawyer about your legal rights.
A recent case from Brooklyn provides a new example of how a single incident may qualify as sufficiently severe to be a hostile work environment.
The employee, J.H., worked as a cook for a bar and grill located in the Cypress Hills neighborhood of Brooklyn from August to December 2022. The cook described his relationship with the restaurant’s owner as “sometimes contentious, sometimes cordial.” That relationship allegedly took a turn shortly before Christmas. On December 23, during an argument about J.H.’s delay in completing food orders, the owner got in his face, attacked and threatened him, and called him a string of slurs, including “hood booger,” “slave,” and the n-word.
In 2023, the cook sued the business and the owner for violations of the New York City Human Rights Law (as well as federal law). The cook alleged that the employer had subjected him to a race-based hostile work environment based on the December 23 incident.
The employer asked the court to toss the lawsuit, asserting that what the cook had alleged was insufficient to meet the legal standard for a race-based hostile work environment.
The court, however, disagreed and rejected the motion, which meant that the cook was entitled to continue his pursuit of his case. One of the keys to the cook’s success in defeating the employer’s motion was the alleged slurs that occurred during the December 23 argument.
When an Isolated Incident is (and is Not) Severe
Even though it was only one incident, what the cook alleged to have occurred was (if proven) sufficiently severe to constitute a violation of federal law. In reaching this conclusion, the court differentiated the cook’s allegations from some previous cases that ended in the employer’s favor. In both a 2019 ruling and another from 2012, the person who used the n-word was a coworker, not a supervisor. In a case from 2022, a supervisor said the n-word but did not direct the slur at the employee who sued. These distinctions were important as a single incident is rarely severe enough by itself to constitute a hostile work environment.
Another factor worth noting is the race of the parties involved. In the cook’s case, both he and the owner were African-American men. That fact did not diminish the severity of the owner’s conduct in terms of qualifying as a hostile work environment.
Additionally, the cook’s allegations painted something more than just a supervisor who directed the n-word at him on a single, isolated occasion with nothing more. Instead, the incident was something where the owner “physically threatened” the cook and “subjected him to a steady stream of insults, including references to slavery, statements that Plaintiff had no rights, and [the n-word].” All of those factors together combined to establish sufficient severity to make for a hostile work environment.
Whether your workplace is peppered with racial slurs or they are merely an infrequent occurrence, you do not have to put up with it. If you believe that the slurs you have encountered at your job have reached the level of violating your rights, reach out to our team. Our experienced New York City race discrimination attorneys at Phillips & Associates PLLC have a proven track record of helping many victims of race discrimination obtain justice. To find out more, contact us online or at (866) 229-9441 to set up a free and confidential consultation today.