TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) — A former AT&T retail store manager in Florida alleges he and other white employees faced discrimination from Black coworkers and that he was terminated based on race.
Albert Blackburn and Charles Poindexter complaint April 6 in Leon County Circuit Court against AT&T Mobility Services LLC alleging violation of the Florida Civil Rights Act.
Blackburn, a white male, began working at an AT&T retail store as manager in August of 2013. He alleges that in addition to his Black coworkers and female coworkers being treated more favorably, he also endured a wrongful investigation into allegedly using racially charged language in the workplace despite his track record of "high performance" evaluations.
Blackburn claims that a female Black coworker had "lenient performance standards" and was promoted to a higher level store after less than one year with the company and without showing any improvement. He also claims other white AT&T employees were treated differently than Black employees and that false allegations of racially insensitive comments led to his termination.
Blackburn seeks monetary relief of more than $50,000, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. He is represented by Marie Mattox of Marie Mattox PA in Tallahassee.
Leon County Circuit Court case number 170537112