Kansas Frito-Lay plant faces more allegations of racial discrimination, lawsuit says
Black employees at the Frito-Lay plant in Topeka filed a lawsuit this week alleging a hostile and offensive work environment, which included graffiti of swastikas and the words “assassinate Obama,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for Kansas on Feb. 22 on behalf of two former employees, Donnell Brooks Sr. and Paris Dunmars, and one current employee, Ranaldo Miles.
Miles has worked for the plant for a year and nine months. Brooks had worked there for more than eight years. Dunmars worked there for about four months.
The three men, who are Black, were discriminated against based on their race, the lawsuit alleges.
Frito-Lay did not return multiple requests for comment in time for publication. An attorney representing the three men declined to comment.
The lawsuit follows another discrimination suit filed last summer that alleged a culture of racial harassment and discrimination at the Topeka plant. The June suit said the harassment and discrimination included racist jokes, references to lynching and cotton picking, and Black employees being called the n-word. In court filings, the company denied the allegations. The case was settled in part and a stipulation of dismissal was filed on behalf of two of the plaintiffs this month.
‘A slap in the face.’
This most recent lawsuit, which describes a hostile work environment, retaliation and racial discrimination, is asking for a jury trial.
Miles told The Star on Wednesday that he feels “degraded” and like he has felt “less than human” while at work. He said that the lack of equal training has been “a slap in the face.” And as he continues to go to work, he said he’s still experiencing the same issues.
“Everybody needs to be treated equal in the workplace and that’s it,” Miles said. “Everybody should be treated the same and have the same opportunity.”
Among the discrimination allegations, the lawsuit states, are inadequate training, assignment of most physically demanding and unpleasant tasks, denial of job opportunities, excessive overtime and close monitoring along with frequent verbal warnings from supervisors.
Supervisors and other employees would also make racially offensive comments, according to the lawsuit.
On Jan. 15, 2018, — Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Black employees found a noose in the warehouse. The lawsuit claims the human resources department and management team failed to take reasonable actions to address the incident. The graffiti displaying swastikas and stating “assassinate Obama” appeared on the walls in the summer of 2019.
The lawsuit also says Brooks was not given the same training as his white peers, which resulted in him being assigned the most physically demanding tasks.
Transfers that Brooks and Dunmars applied to were blocked or impeded by human resources, the suit alleges. And when the three men complained to the human resources department of the racial discrimination and racially hostile work environment in June 2019, they were retaliated against.
Dunmars resigned a few months later. The next year when he reapplied, he was told he met the qualifications, and then was turned down.
Brooks resigned in August 2020, believing “he had no other reasonable choice ... because of the racial discrimination, racial harassment, and retaliation.”
The lawsuit alleges the plant violated the Civil Rights Act and asks for damages in excess of $100,000 each.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 1:56 PM.
