Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in New York

Reverse Discrimination Black Vs. White in the Workplace

I am a mid-level administrator in a predominately african american organization who is being asked to discipline a white subordinate because of the hearsay allegations of a few of her subordinates. Her subordinates claim that her personality/demeanor is too ''cold'' and they don't like the way she talks to them. They are predominately minority subordinates and they have raises the ''race'' card as an excuse for not following reasonable directives. Her words are in no way discriminatory and are solely job related. At this point I am uncomfortable mandating that she attend special trainings, or taking disciplinary action such as suspension or termination, singling her out from her colleagues based on only ''hearsay'' and gossip. I have no formal written complaints, only second hand hearsay from phone calls received by my superiors. If I take action against her because of workplace gossip and ''mysterious'' phone calls, am I in danger of breaking any civil rights and giving her grounds for filing a law suit? My concern here is that it appears that this ''white'' woman is being set up by the predominately ''african-american'' administration.


Asked on 4/01/04, 7:25 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Loeb Law Office of Stephen R. Loeb

Re: Reverse Discrimination Black Vs. White in the Workplace

You could be in a tough position. What you may want to do, to protect yourself, is to put the comments you wrote here in a written memo and send it to your supervisor, retaining a copy for yourself. If your supervisior insists on the disciplinary measure you can tell her you you feel uncomfortable doing so, but if she insists you will do so so as not to be insubordiante but you will also inform the employee of your own personal evaluation of the situation. The company would be wise not to continue down the path at that point.

Should you like to discuss this or any other legal matter, you can call my office to schedule an appointment for a consultation or in the alternative, I can be reached for on-phone low-cost legal consultation at 1-800-275-5336 x0233699.

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Answered on 4/05/04, 9:26 am


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