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Several Black employees at a General Mills plant in Georgia have filed a federal lawsuit against the company, claiming the plant is controlled by “white supremacists” and has “embraced a racially hostile work environment,” according to NPR.
“The Covington facility has been operated consistently since its inception by white supremacists in a manner that violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866,” the lawsuit read.
The 60-page lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month, alleges that two white managers at the Covington facility “formed an organization of white employees in management and human resources called the ‘’Good Ole Boys” that frequently discriminated against the Black workers while giving their white counterparts special treatment.
The suit also claims that since the plant was opened in 1988, Black employees have been systematically held “to a higher standard of conduct by writing them up and taking adverse employment actions against them at a higher rate and for less-serious infractions than white employees.”
“The ‘Good Ole Boys’ believe that history and symbols that have been co-opted or misappropriated by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist hate groups are useful to keep Black people ‘in their place’ and discourage Black people from speaking or taking action against the disparate treatment of Black employees at the Covington facility,” the lawsuit reads.
When Black employees tried to blow the whistle on the discriminatory ways of the white managers at the plant, they claimed the “egregious incidents of racism have gone ignored by local and corporate HR for over 20 years.”
“HR routinely informs racist white supervisors about the content of complaints against them along with the identity of the Black employees who made the complaint. This frequently results in retaliation against Black employees. As a result, many Black employees will not make complaints of discrimination to HR or fill out “climate surveys” for fear of retaliation by the Good Ole Boys,” the lawsuit read.
General Mills condemned the accusations, saying it “has a long-standing and ongoing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and we do not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” in a statement to CNN.
The plaintiffs are seeking a trial by jury and compensatory and punitive damages for hundreds of Black employees who worked at the plant, according to CNN.
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