A black employee is suing the California solar energy company he worked for claiming one of its white managers made a ‘white only’ sign around their desks as part of a campaign of racial abuse.
Teshawn Solomon, 36, was one of two black men working at Vivint Solar’s Sacramento warehouse as a temporary warehouse specialist.
In March 2018, after working there for a year, he quit because of what he describes as racial harassment.
The father-of-four claims that two white managers, Daniel Alanis and Joshua Lane, were routinely prejudicial towards him and went out of their way to make him feel uncomfortable because of the color of his skin.
In a lawsuit against the company that was filed on Tuesday, Solomon describes several alleged incidents including the aforementioned clubhouse sign.
He also claimed that one of the managers once told him to ‘put out your black hands’ as he handed him a box.
This is the ‘white only’ sign managers at Vivint Solar are accused of making to taunt black employee Teshawn Solomon who is suing the company claiming it did nothing to stop the racial abuse
On other occasions, they used the N-word repeatedly, he alleged and in one case, a manager taunted him with fruit, saying: ‘Monkeys like bananas’.
He resigned in March, claiming the alleged abuse left him afraid to work with the white mangers alone.
‘I was terrified. The only other African-American employee was usually at other warehouses, so I was alone, at night, looking over my shoulder, wondering what else could happen to me.
‘All I wanted was respect and the dignity of providing for my family,’ Solomon said in his lawsuit.
Solomon claims he told the company about the alleged abuse but they did nothing.
‘Management did nothing after I complained.
The sign appeared in the company’s Sacramento warehouse where Solomon says he was left terrified to work alone with the two white employees
The alleged abuse took place in this warehouse in Sacramento where Solomon worked
‘They didn’t hold anyone accountable.
‘People continued joking about the fort for weeks because they knew management didn’t care about racism,’ he said.
Vivint apologized to him in a statement.
‘We typically have a policy of not commenting on specific personnel matters or pending litigation.
‘However, in this case, we wish to extend a sincere apology to Mr. Solomon for the deeply concerning and understandably upsetting situation he endured.
‘Mr. Solomon’s experience was an isolated one and it has been addressed by our HR team to ensure something like this never happens again.
‘Mr. Solomon’s experience simply does not reflect the values or culture of Vivint Solar and stands in direct contradiction to our core values as a company,’ the company said.
Solomon did not specify how much money he hopes to obtain from the company in his lawsuit.