A high-ranking lawyer recently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Labor alleging that he was fired after highlighting racial discrimination across the department.
Oscar Hampton, who is Black, filed the lawsuit in the federal court of Washington D.C. on Tuesday.
As a regional solicitor in Philadelphia, Hampton has been part of the Department of Labor since 1989. Known as a top-lawyer for the division, one of his recent cases, a $22 million case held earlier this year, was one of the DOL’s most substantial jury verdicts in its history, according to Reuters.
In his lawsuit, Hampton claims that he was fired after a supervisor began an investigation into his work due to Hampton speaking out about the racial discrimination in the company.
Per Hampton, Black employees were denied positions they qualified for and were harshly criticized for their work.
With the lawsuit, Hampton is looking to be reinstated as regional solicitor along with monetary funds as damage for the firing. He is also looking for the Department of Labor to identify any discriminatory practices in their practices and address them to prevent any bias against workers.
“His accomplishments are impressive by any standard. An Agency not driven by discriminatory animus would have treated him with gratitude and respect,” wrote the representative for Hampton in the lawsuit published by Reuters. “Instead, DOL allowed employees and managers with racial animus to engage in this discrimination against Mr. Hampton.”
According to the lawsuit, Hampton’s claims of the discrimination by the Department of Labor are in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Under the act, it’s illegal for employers to discriminate against workers based on race, color, religion, gender and national origin. Title VII also makes it illegal for employers to retaliate against a worker for reporting discrimination within the company or department.
According to the lawsuit, Hampton’s case means that, as he was subjected to discrimination and his reputation was marred by an unlawful investigation, the Department of Labor was also helping to perpetrate actions that they are supposed to protect workers from.
Throughout the years, the DOL has begun multiple investigations into discriminatory practices in the workforce, most recently coming to an agreement with Daikin Industries on their discriminatory hiring practices.
“DOL’s discriminatory actions not only harm Mr. Hampton, but also harm the Agency and the nation workers that DOL has a fiduciary responsibility to protect,” wrote the representatives of Hampton per the lawsuit documents. “This lawsuit seeks relief for unlawful race and sex discrimination, and unlawful retaliation, in violation of Title VII.”
