threat of racial har. suit leads to term. of supervisor

[JasmineMoose]

What is the name of your state? Colorado
My friend "Joe" works for a company in Colorado which is highly regarded among the Socially Responsible set. I'll call the company "Do Good Work Tea". Joe worked for Do Good Work as a low level supervisor for less than 6 months when he needed to interview and reccommend candidates for a job opening in his area/department. Do Good Work gave him no interview training and no supervisor training. He picked out 3 or 4 candidates to be interviewed a 2nd time and then went to one (probably more) of his workers, individually, and explained why they would or wouldn't get a second interview. This particular worker was told that he was not selected, and his friend was, because 1) there was only 1 slot left for a 2nd interview, and 2) while he and his friend were comparable in skills, his friend had a better attendance record. Now this particualr worker is sueing (or threatening to sue) for racial harassment. The worker is Hispanic. So Do Good Work's answer was to sit Joe down, offer him 2 weeks of severance, 2 weeks of vacation and his floating holidays worth of pay if he would resign - even though they didn't have to offer him anything. He has another choice is called a Performance Plan, but basically it lists a million things they could fire him for with out due process.

Is this really racial harassment? Why would this company want Joe out of the work place so fast? It's like they want this all kept very quiet. What if Joe doesn't resign and forces the company to fire him? Joe has until Tues Feb 22 to decide what to do. Should he get a lawyer?

 

[Beth3]

Is this really racial harassment? Unless there are more facts than what you've shared, no. The employee's race doesn't appear to have anything to do with not being selected for a second interview. (It's also possible you don't have the whole story though.)

Why would this company want Joe out of the work place so fast? Ya got me. Perhaps they have a history of "caving" whenever anyone claims prohibited discrimination/harassment, no matter how bogus the claim is.

What if Joe doesn't resign and forces the company to fire him? The difference is meangless. The company is free to terminate him if they wish to.

Joe has until Tues Feb 22 to decide what to do. Should he get a lawyer? A lawyer might be helpful in helping negotiate a larger severance package (and that's a big "might") but Joe has no legal basis to challenge the employer's decision. If they want to force him into a performance improvement plan or terminate his employment, they may.