A Black man said that he was terminated from his place of employment after reporting his colleague for naming a “monkey doll” after him, according to a new federal lawsuit.
Reports indicate that Caleb Ferguson has filed the suit against his ex-employer UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He has cited racial discrimination and retaliation.
Ferguson states that on March 20, 2023, he was working in the transfer unit of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He then saw one of his co-workers. She was said to be a white woman in her late 50s to early 60s.
It was normal for the woman to knit while at work. And when she was questioned on what she was working on, she replied back. “I’m making a monkey,” documents note. The woman is said to have held up the monkey and stated, “Look, it’s Caleb,” in the presence of other workers.
To his astonishment, Ferguson says that no one said anything to the woman about her statements. A week following that, the colleague held up the finished monkey and told other workers, including his supervisor, “Everyone, meet Caleb.”
“I felt very disrespected when my co-worker made the comments,” Ferguson reported. “I felt even worse when she doubled down on them.”
Ferguson went and discussed the matter with the supervisor, he says. He talked about how monkey is a “well-known and disgusting racial slur.” The supervisor is said to have told him that he would take care of the matter. However, the lawsuit states that the colleague was never disciplined for her behavior.
On April 2, Ferguson had a dispute with another worker about the monkey doll occurrence. The dispute resulted in the supervisor calling security on Ferguson and him getting suspended from work. Days after that, Ferguson was terminated from his job.
He thinks it was retaliation for speaking out against his colleague’s racial statements.
“They used that rule to fire me without a real reason, so it wouldn’t look retaliatory. But, I reported the incident to HR on a Friday (this was after I reported the incident to my supervisor multiple weeks prior) and was fired the following Monday, Ferguson stated.
Ferguson is seeking unspecified damages from his former place of employment.
Ion play that in Enid, Oklahoma they the same way Dr dont see blk ppl and they say and slick shyt