Black employees of the U.S. Marshals Service filed a racial discrimination lawsuit on Wednesday, claiming they have been denied promotions by managers who belittled their abilities, reports the Associated Press. The suit labeled the agency as a “good old boys network” that exploited loopholes to groom Whites for leadership positions while quickly terminating Blacks for “trivial mistakes.”
The suit is on behalf of 200 current and former Black employees. They are asking for damages of at least $300 million for lost back pay and emotional harm suffered in a “hostile work environment.” The suit also says White colleagues and supervisors regularly used a racial epithet to refer to both criminal suspects as well as Black leaders of other countries. An agency spokesman said: “These allegations do not reflect the culture of this agency or the high standards to which we hold our employees.”