The Supreme Court will consider a case Thursday about a hospital operating room aid who regularly rode on an elevator with the N-word carved into the wall.
Robert Collier worked at the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas, for seven years, according to The Associated Press. Management at the hospital reportedly overlooked two large swastikas painted in a storage room.
The Supreme Court considers whether to hear the case of a Black man who says he suffered discrimination because the N-word was carved into an elevator where he worked. The case is about whether one use of the word can create a hostile work environment. https://t.co/JtbajTY6fN
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) May 13, 2021
The lower courts have since dismissed the case brought by Collier. Now, he is asking the Supreme Court to decide if using the N-word in the workplace fosters a hostile work environment. (RELATED: Will Smith Says He’s Been Called The N-Word To His Face Several Times)
Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett have previously ruled on similar cases regarding the use of the N-word while U.S. Circuit Court judges. While both justices agreed that the use of the N-word is certainly reprehensible, they supported different outcomes in the two cases.
Justice Kavanaugh ruled that the N-word’s use in the workplace by a supervisor “suffices by itself to establish a racially hostile work environment.” However, Justice Barrett ruled in a similar case that an employee cannot win a case “simply by proving that the word was uttered.”