Supreme Court Declines To Hear Dallas Hospital Case Involving The N-Word
WASHINGTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — The Supreme Court has declined to hear a case that would have had the justices deciding whether a single use of the N-word in the workplace -- in this case Parkland Hospital in Dallas -- can create a hostile work environment.
The high court said Monday it would not take the case of Robert Collier, a former Parkland employee, who said he was subjected to a hostile work environment, including graffiti in one elevator that used the N-word. As is typical, the court did not comment in turning away the case. It was one of many the court rejected Monday.
Collier said that during the seven years he worked as an operating room aide at Parkland Memorial Hospital white nurses called him and other Black employees "boy." He also said management ignored two large swastikas painted on a storage room wall. He sued the hospital after he was fired in 2016.
The hospital's lawyers had urged the court not to take Collier's case. In a statement, hospital spokesman Michael Malaise noted that there is no evidence "that any Parkland employee was responsible for the alleged graffiti or that it was directed specifically at Mr. Collier."
The hospital also said the case's "factual record ... is neither strong nor clear." And Collier himself previously said that the racial graffiti he saw "had no appreciable effect on his job performance."
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
