Complaint alleges race, religious discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment at apartment complex
Jim Garrity, who represents employees across Florida and Georgia, has filed suit on behalf of four former employees of a property management company, alleging a pervasive pattern of race discrimination, religious discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment in violation of the Florida Civil Rights Act and a federal civil rights law.
The federal lawsuit alleges disturbing allegations spanning from 2022 through 2024. The four plaintiffs, three African American men and one Hispanic man, held positions as a leasing consultant and maintenance technicians at a residential apartment complex operated by the defendant company.
According to the allegations, one plaintiff, an African American Christian, endured persistent religious slurs and offensive language from coworkers and supervisors beginning in 2022. Despite repeatedly raising his concerns with management, no meaningful corrective action was taken. His workspace was decorated for holidays against his expressed religious convictions, and a supervisor allegedly told him to set aside his faith, saying his God would forgive him for lying.
The same plaintiff also alleges he was subjected to racially charged threats, including a supervisor’s comment about coming to his home to hang him with a noose. Management allegedly laughed off the report. He was also denied approximately $8,000 in earned commissions that were unilaterally pooled and redistributed without his consent.
The complaint further alleges that a coworker directed a racial slur at one of the African American maintenance technicians in the presence of other employees. When reported, management discouraged the worker from escalating the matter, with a property manager allegedly stating that her own husband frequently used the same slur. The complaint claims that white employees received preferential treatment in pay, discipline, and holiday leave.
After the plaintiffs filed complaints internally and with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the company allegedly terminated the prior managers, only to replace them with a new property manager who allegedly announced her intention to fire the entire team. Three of the four plaintiffs were terminated on the same day in May 2024, each without explanation and within days of lodging formal complaints about the new manager’s conduct. The fourth plaintiff was constructively discharged months earlier after enduring sustained racial hostility.
The complaint also alleges that the company weaponized employer-provided housing as a tool of retaliation, invoking a ten-day vacate clause to force terminated employees from their apartments and initiating eviction proceedings against a plaintiff whose lease had not yet expired.
“No worker should have to endure racial slurs, threats of violence, and religious harassment as conditions of employment,” said Jim Garrity. “When employees have the courage to report discrimination, the law protects them from retaliation. This case represents a textbook failure by an employer to take even the most basic steps to address a hostile and discriminatory work environment, and then punishing the very people who spoke up.”
The lawsuit asserts thirteen counts, including race discrimination, religious discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment claims on behalf of each plaintiff. The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages, back pay, front pay, punitive damages, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and costs, and a trial by jury.
For more information about employee rights, contact Jim Garrity at 800-663-7999.
Categories: Discrimination, Ethnicity, National Origin & Color Discrimination, Race Discrimination, Retaliation
Jim Garrity, Esq. - Employee Rights Lawyer 
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