{"id":36376,"date":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/uncategorized\/black-workers-have-claim-of-discrimination-against-black.html"},"modified":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","slug":"black-workers-have-claim-of-discrimination-against-black","status":"publish","type":"corporate","link":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/litigation-disputes\/black-workers-have-claim-of-discrimination-against-black.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Workers Have Claim Of Discrimination Against Black Supervisor"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline\">\n    <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-content\">\n                    <p><em>This article was edited and reviewed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team.html\" rel=\"noopener\">FindLaw Attorney Writers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n                | Last reviewed\n        <time>\n                            May 07, 2026\n                    <\/time>\n    <\/div>\n\n    \n    <details class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle fl-gutenberg-byline-legally-reviewed\">\n        <summary>\n            <i class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n            Legally Reviewed\n        <\/summary>\n\n        <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle-content\">\n            <p><em>This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team.html\" rel=\"noopener\">FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/company-history\/editorial-policy.html\" rel=\"noopener\">our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/details>\n\n    <details class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle fl-gutenberg-byline-fast-checked\">\n        <summary>\n            <i class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n            Fact-Checked\n        <\/summary>\n\n        <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle-content\">\n            <p><em>The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team\/contributing-authors.html\" rel=\"noopener\">contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please <a href=\"https:\/\/lawyers.findlaw.com\/?fli=bylinelink\" rel=\"noopener\">contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/details>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rxbodyfield\" xmlns:o=\"urn:www.microsoft.com\/office\" xmlns:st1=\"urn:www.microsoft.com\/smarttags\" xmlns:w=\"urn:www.microsoft.com\/word\" xmlns:x=\"urn:www.microsoft.com\/excel\"><p>The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that both black and white workers can sue for racial discrimination based on their treatment by a black supervisor.<\/p><p>In <i>Graham v Ford, Yarborough and the Department of Corrections<\/i>, (October 1, 1999), several employees claimed that their supervisor discriminated against whites in job assignments and duties and constantly referred to them as &quot;honkies&quot; and as &quot;the honkey clan&quot; or &quot;the white boy clique.&quot; The black employees claimed that this same supervisor discriminated against them because they &quot;associated&quot; with the white employees. The case against all defendants had been dismissed by the trial court. The court of appeals determined that &quot;the broad language of the civil rights act and the policies behind the act&quot; should be read to include protection against discrimination based on association.<\/p><p>According to the court of appeals, the supervisor &quot;managed through a perception of race.&quot; He made various remarks to black employees such as &quot;being too friendly with whites&quot; and &quot;belonging to the white boy clique.&quot; He also called black employees &quot;Uncle Toms.&quot; The court ruled that the testimony showed that blacks who associated with whites were treated adversely by their black supervisor and that such treatment was sufficient to support a civil rights claim.<\/p><p>The <i>Graham<\/i> case is a reminder to employers that an employee&#39;s race and\/or the employee&#39;s associations based on race should not play any role in employment decisions. Moreover, the mere fact that a manager and the affected employee are of the same race does not insulate discriminatory actions.<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that both black and white workers can sue for racial discrimination based on their treatment by a black supervisor. In Graham v Ford, Yarborough and the Department of Corrections, (October 1, 1999), several &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":true,"_modified_date":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"corporate_categories":[6522,6526,6520],"class_list":["post-36376","corporate","type-corporate","status-publish","hentry","corporate_categories-litigation-disputes__civil-litigation","corporate_categories-litigation-disputes__civil-litigation__civil-rights","corporate_categories-litigation-disputes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate\/36376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/corporate"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"corporate_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate_categories?post=36376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}