“Sieg Heil-lsboro” Mayor calls for race war
Hillsboro, OH – The Mayor of Hillsboro, a small town outside of Cincinnati is in hot water for stroking the fires of a race war. The small-town Ohio mayor has made racially charged comments to his social media page stating “When are people going to figure out that we are in a Revolution in this Country. Blacks have all but formally declared war on whites.” One of the few black employees who worked for the city filed a federal complaint as a result of the Mayors’ racially hostile comments.
Hillsboro Mayor, Drew Hastings, is being sued by Craig Jackson, one of only two black employees of the predominantly white town, after seeing the Mayor’s comments. Hillsboro, is a small town about 57 miles east of Cincinnati, with only a 4.8% black population, compared to its 87.3 percent white population.
Mayor Hastings’ rant targeted black people, stating that “Blacks have all but formally declared war on whites,” pointing to socially funding programs such as Planned Parenthood as battlegrounds. He further called out violence over immigration, Muslim extremism and stated that the US government is waging a war on its citizens. Hastings believes the first blows of the war have already been struck, and urges his followers to “pick your side and pick your battles.”
Jackson, an employee of Hillsboro, has filed his suit with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (“EEOC”). The EEOC is the federal agency tasked with handling claims of employment discrimination. The EEOC was created by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under Title VII, an employer may be liable for the discriminatory comments of a supervisor if it fails to take appropriate action to prevent the behavior.
Here, because Hastings is the Mayor, he is the supervisor of all employees that work for the city. Further, Title VII doesn’t just stop at the workplace door, many courts have held that Title VII extends to conduct between employees away from the workplace as well, and may even extend to disjointed Facebook posts.
Here, Jackson claims that after Mayor Hastings’ comments the entire town became a hostile work environment. On one occasion, while Jackson was walking down the street in the community, a driver called him a nigger while passing Jackson. Also, Randy Barr, the City’s Assistant Safety Services Director, called Jackson a nigger, and, while in Jackson’s presence, stated “[I] shit out a turd that looks like [Jackson].” Further, when Jackson was up to fill a recently opened position at the City, Barr refused to give Jackson the position because Jackson wasn’t the “right color for the job.”
Discriminatory statements from a supervisor can have dire consequences for any employee, especially when that supervisor is a mayor. The New York sexual harassment attorneys at the Derek Smith Law Group, PLLC, have years of experience litigating claims of racial discrimination. Working with our Philadelphia sexual harassment attorneys, we have recovered six figure settlements on behalf of our clients. If you feel you have been discriminated against because of your race, please give the talented attorneys at the Derek Smith Law Group a call, toll free 1877 4NYLAWS, for your free consultation.
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