City employee files $1.8 million discrimination suit against Kansas City
.jpg "An employee of the City of Kansas City, Missouri, is suing his employer for discrimination, asking for $1.8 million.")
A Kansas City, Missouri, employee is suing the city for $1.8 million, alleging discrimination after he was passed over for multiple promotions.
David Sims, a Black employee of the city for 22 years, said the failure of his supervisors to elevate his position despite his experience and education displays racial prejudice, according to documents filed in federal court earlier this month.
“I have experienced systemic racism on both a regular basis, and in promotional opportunities,” Sims wrote in a statement to the court.
Initially a contract employee, Sims was officially hired in 2000. From that period on, Sims said he received nothing but positive reviews from his employer and worked late evenings in the office. He received a title change in 2006, deeming him a lead engineering technician, but he was denied a promotion to Principal Technician.
In court documents, Sims said he was told, “You are getting there.”
Despite repeated requests to receive the Principal Technician title from that year on, Sims was turned down. The documents list the names of over a dozen white co-employees who were promoted over Sims.
“I am possibly the most educated African-American male in Public Works with the lowest employment position,” Sims wrote. “I have [repeatedly] asked upper management what additional duties and tasks can be performed to benefit our Department and prepare me to be promotable.”
Sims is asking for an immediate promotion to Area Superintendent, 15 years of back payments, an official apology from the department, $1.4 million for physical and emotional anguish, and for the department to create new programs that assist people of color in gaining promotions.
Sims is requesting a trial by jury for his case, though he has not retained an attorney.
Sims could not be reached for comment Friday. The city was also not immediately available for comment.
In his final remarks to the court, Sims said other Black employees have also experienced prejudice within his department. It’s his hope, he said, that this would change.
“It is with sadness and regret, that during the past 15 years of my tenure here at the city, has been filled with discriminatory and unfair attitudes and actions toward African-American and other People of Color,” Sims wrote. “I have seen us ‘Held Back’ while fellow counterpart and many White Co - workers are promoted once, and in some instances, twice to even higher positions.”