Black workers at Kansas City hospital were called ‘boy’ and ‘Aunt Jemima’: lawsuit
Trevor Baston says he watched a white employee at St. Luke’s Hospital call a black co-worker “Aunt Jemima.” The same person repeatedly called Baston, who is black, “boy.” A nurse practitioner told him she was afraid of “big black men.”
Then, after a bias training, his supervisor’s manager told staff to “get over it.”
That is according to a lawsuit moved to federal court last week that alleges Baston’s supervisors and other white employees discriminated against him because he is African American and retaliated against him when he complained.
The lawsuit, first filed in Jackson County Circuit Court in November, was moved to the United States Court for the Western District of Missouri. In eight counts, it accuses St. Luke’s Physician Group and St. Luke’s Health System of race, color and sex discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
Baston worked as a medical technician beginning in May 2017. Three months into his employment, according to a complaint filed with the Missouri Human Rights Commission, a new manager subjected him to “severe and pervasive harassment.”
Sarah Liesen, one of Baston’s attorneys, said her law firm specializes in representing employees who have suffered from discrimination and other employment law violations.
“When we see something that we feel isn’t right, we like to step in and do something about it,” Liesen said.
A spokesperson for St. Luke’s did not immediately offer comment on the lawsuit.
The complaints
The lawsuit alleges Baston’s manager told him and another black employee to put their cellphones away, but would watch videos and look at pictures on the phones of other employees, who were white.
When he confronted his manager about this, the lawsuit says, the manager shook her head and walked away without answering.
A month later, the manager gave him a bad review, preventing Baston from getting a raise. After Baston complained about the review, it was changed, but it was too late for him to receive a raise.
In June 2018, his manager gave him a written warning for accessing his own medical records. Baston told his boss that he didn’t remember doing that. According to the lawsuit, two other employees, who are white, also accessed their medical records but were not reprimanded.
In August, Baston reported in a survey he felt St. Luke’s needed a diversity training.
In September, Baston went on medical leave for shoulder surgery. When he returned in December, his manager was moved to another position outside of his department.
The next month, Baston was harassed by another employee who repeatedly called him “boy,” even after Baston explained how that was offensive to a black man. He asked her to call him by his name. She allegedly responded: “You don’t know what you are talking about boy, be quiet boy.”
The word “boy” has been used throughout American history as a racial epithet and to demean black men.
When Baston reported this to his new manager, she told him that he was “looking at it incorrectly” and that the employee didn’t mean it. The manager told him there was nothing she could do.
Baston also witnessed that employee call another black employee “Aunt Jemima.”
Another white employee, the lawsuit alleges, tried to force Baston to take a container of urine and shoved it in his face, even though he did not have proper protection and was not qualified to handle urine labs.
That same employee, a nurse practitioner, later asked Baston to stand in the room with her while she was with a patient she called “creepy.” The patient, a black man about the same size as Baston, appeared normal to him, the lawsuit said.
After the nurse finished interacting with the patient — faster than usual — she thanked Baston for standing with her and said: “Sometimes I am afraid of big black men especially ones that look like the guy that killed my brother.”
Baston then asked her if she was afraid of him and if she realized he was also a “big black man.”
She didn’t answer, instead shushing Baston and walking away.
‘Get over it’
None of the issues were addressed, the lawsuit says. When Baston told his manager he felt he had to file an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint, he was told to keep quiet.
After he filed the complaint in March 2019, the lawsuit alleges, his manager started following him around at work trying to find a reason to fire or discipline him.
In July, St. Luke’s held an unconscious bias training. At the end, Baston’s supervisor’s boss told staff: “What I want you all to do is just get over it and let the past be the past.”
Baston, who felt the comment was directed at him and another black employee, went on medical leave because “of the stress and anxiety” that caused him.
While out, he was told someone else would be hired for his position.
The lawsuit asks for economic and emotional distress damages as well as a jury trial.
This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 12:58 PM.
