The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit today claiming that Salisbury Motor Co. violated federal law by subjecting an African-American employee to a racially hostile work environment and different terms and conditions of employment. And, the EEOC alleges in a press release about the lawsuit, the company fired the man for complaining.
According to the EEOC’s press release, from November 2005 until June 2008, Glenn Bailey was subjected to “unwelcome derogatory racial slurs including the ‘N-word’ by Salisbury Motor’s owners and upper management,” the press release said. The EEOC also contends in its complaint that Bailey, who worked as a car detailer, was subjected to different terms and conditions of employment than his white coworkers.
The EEOC alleges that Bailey was required to perform various non-job-related demeaning tasks and personal errands for company officials, including cleaning a chicken coop filled with dead chickens on the manager’s property, packing and moving household items for the manager’s daughter, and cleaning spots from the carpet and pulling weeds at the dealership.
According to the EEOC, white employees were not required to perform the tasks and management at Salisbury Motor Co. threatened to fire Bailey if he refused to perform them. When Bailey complained, he was fired, the EEOC alleges.
The Post has contacted Donald Clement IV, general manager of Salisbury Motor Co., for his response to the complaint. An employee at the business said Clement would not be available until later this afternoon.