(NewsNation) — Several Black employees have accused cereal manufacturer General Mills of allowing a “racially hostile work environment” to form at a Georgia plant, according to a federal lawsuit obtained by multiple outlets.
The eight plaintiffs allege that a” fraternal organization of male white supremacists operating in management and HR” at the company’s Covington plant has racially discriminated against Black employees for over three decades.
The lawsuit accuses multiple white managers of exerting their power and favoring their friends — referred to in the civil suit as the “Good Ole Boys” — since the plant’s opening in 1988.
“The ‘Good Ole Boys’ believe that history and symbols that have been co-opted or misappropriated by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist hate groups are useful to keep Black people ‘in their place’ and discourage Black people from speaking or taking action against the disparate treatment of Black employees at the Covington facility,” the lawsuit reads.
These alleged racist actions include disproportionally punishing Black employees, favoring white employees for promotions and refusing to remove Confederate-themed murals from the premises.
One worker alleged “KKK” was written on his lunchbox in 2006, and when managers became involved, he was asked to provide a handwriting sample and prove it was not him who’d done it.
Another employee found a noose on his desk in 1993, just one year before a white coworker told him to “go back to Africa.” That same worker was passed up for a promotion that required a bachelor’s degree, which he had, for a white coworker who did not have a bachelor’s degree.
Multiple plaintiffs claim they went to HR with concerns, only for the issues to remain unaddressed or turn into retaliatory situations.
“At different times throughout its history, including in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Covington facility has held meetings, trainings, and events that purport to promote diversity in response to racial hostility at the plant. This façade of caring about the equal treatment of employees on the basis of race has permeated
the entire history of the Covington facility,” the lawsuit reads.
In a statement to NPR, General Mills said the company has a “long-standing and ongoing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”