General Mills, the manufacturer of Cheerios and other well-known cereals, is being sued by eight Black employees working at a Georgia plant who say it’s rampant with racism under the control of its White managers. In the federal lawsuit filed June 2, the employees accuse the managers at the Covington plant with favoring White employees for promotions over Black workers, issuing more disciplinary actions against Black employees and a manager calling them “colored,” a racist term. The lawsuit points to two White managers who “formed an organization of white employees in management and human resources called the ‘Good Ole Boys’” favoring White workers over their Black counterparts and going back as far as the 1980s. In another instance, a Black employee said he found “KKK” etched into his lunchbox and the managers forced him to give a handwriting sample to prove it wasn’t him. The plaintiffs are seeking a trial by jury and compensatory and punitive damages for hundreds of Black employees who have worked at the Covington plant.

Source: CNN June 05, 2024 16:10 UTC