*A Black former sales executive for Marriott Vacations Worldwide is suing the company for racial discrimination and retaliation, alleging he was expected to dance for his employees during sales meetings and that he was once compared to Buckwheat during a team meeting.
Plaintiff Daryl Robinson says he resigned from the company because he could no longer tolerate the racist working conditions. His Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, mynewsla.com reports.
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Former sales executive for Marriott Vacations Worldwide alleges in lawsuit that he was asked to dance during meetings as entertainment for other employees and that a photo of the character Buckwheat was used to represent him during a team building exercise https://t.co/QN9RJY380o
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 27, 2018
Robinson sold timeshares for the company after being hired in February 2017. Although he was promised a cubicle after training, he was instead given a cramped storage closet with no air conditioning as an office. The suit states that co-workers wondered aloud if he was put there because of his race.
During a team building exercise, he claims the racially offensive Buckwheat character from the “Our Gang” comedy was used to represent him. Robinson was also told by his director of sales to dance when music was played, often to Michael Jackson songs.
“Mr. Robinson found this to be extremely intimidating and humiliating,” the suit states.
He was equally “shocked and in disbelief” when he saw the Buckwheat photo, the suit states.
His doctor put him on a medical leave because the toxic work environment caused him a great deal of anxiety. The suit states that once he returned to work it became immediately clear that “he could no longer tolerate working for (Marriott) and was forced to give up his employment,” the suit states.
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