ST. LOUIS (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Postal Service has won judgment in a lawsuit brought against it by a white employee who sued over his Black co-workers' use of the "N" word.
On March 13, St. Louis federal judge Sarah Pitlyk granted the Postal Service's motion for summary judgment, finding plaintiff Lyle Herrington failed to properly pursue claims for hostile work environment and disparate treatment on account of race.
Herrington was required to exhaust administrative avenues for remedy before filing suit, with one step being a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
He did, but that complaint only alleged retaliation, leaving the afore-mentioned claims inappropriate. That left Pitlyk to rule only on the retaliation claim in his lawsuit.
And since the alleged retaliation resulted in no harm, only a warning letter, that claim failed too, Pitlyk wrote.
Herrington works at the Postal Service's Creve Coeur branch. He complained to the EEOC about Melvin Beck in February 2019 after a Black coworker had complained she was being worked like a slave, "or something to that effect," the complaint says.
Herrington said she was being treated more like an indentured servant. Beck "subjected Herrington to a barrage of comments" and told him to stay away from her, the suit says. Herrington then filed his gripe with the EEOC.
Five months later, Beck issued a Letter of Warning to Herrington because he took a picture of Lawanda Johnson.
Herrington said Johnson had also taken a picture of him, but she wasn't subjected to discipline like he was. His complaint says the hostile work environment took many other forms.
Herrington alleged he repeatedly heard the "N" word, was wrongfully accused of trying to run down a woman and was called the Ku Klux Klan. But those allegations weren't in the EEOC complaint, the Postal Service successfully argued.