(The following story by Edgar Sanchez appeared on the Sacramento Bee website on November 22.)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Union Pacific Railroad must pay $500,000 in damages to an African American laborer for racism he endured from white co-workers and bosses during his first 2 1/2 years with UP, a Sacramento Superior Court jury has found.
The plaintiff, Thomas Franklin, 42, of Sacramento, still works for UP but not in its Roseville division where the events that prompted his suit against the company occurred.
“I was really happy that the jury found in my favor,” Franklin said Friday.
After a two-month trial, the jury deliberated for almost two days before finding on Thursday that Franklin had been a victim of racial discrimination and racial harassment between June 1998 and December 2000 at UP’s signal construction department in Roseville.
Franklin, the lone African American on an otherwise all-white work crew, maintained that he was subjected to racial slurs, racist jokes and comments, having tools thrown at him and other discriminatory treatment.
The jury awarded him $470,000 for emotional distress arising from the events, plus $30,000 for lost wages during a six-month stress-related leave that began in December 2000.
While Franklin said he felt “some closure,” UP’s attorneys said the case isn’t over.
“We were surprised by the verdict,” said James Barclay, a house counsel for Union Pacific. “We just don’t believe it was fair and just.”
UP’s position is that it never discriminated against Franklin, nor did it knowingly permit him to be racially harassed, Barclay said.
“UP is proud of its EEO policy and its commitment to equal employment opportunities for all people,” Barclay said.
Describing the verdict as “contrary to the evidence introduced,” Barclay said he and co-counsel Adrian Randolph will pursue a motion for a new trial “and will carefully consider an appeal.”
Franklin’s attorney, John M. Riestenberg, praised the verdict.
“During the trial, we argued that there was pervasive racism going on in UP’s Roseville signal department, based upon a good-ol’-boy network that wasn’t friendly to minorities or women,” Riestenberg said.
Franklin, an Army veteran, became a signalman for UP Roseville in June 1998. As a signalman, he worked with a crew that built railroad signals for street crossings.
The harassment began immediately, according to Riestenberg, who filed the discrimination suit in November 2001.
Franklin heard white employees referring to minorities in the track department as “track monkeys” and Latino workers as the “taco gang,” Riestenberg said.
On two separate occasions, while standing near Franklin, co-workers used the word “spade” under the guise of referring to a shovel, Riestenberg added.
In addition, Franklin and other minority employees in the signal department were assigned a disproportionate amount of heavy labor, such as digging ditches, Riestenberg said.
Putting up with the situation wasn’t easy, Franklin said.
Every morning he had to “mentally prepare” to go to work, he said.
“I had bills to pay … and I just tried to take it one day at a time,” Franklin said.
Barclay disputed those comments, saying, “I don’t believe that every day he had to put up with any more than any of us going to work.”
In late 2000, Franklin had a chest-bumping confrontation with a white co-worker, Riestenberg said.
When Franklin complained to UP officials about racial harassment, “Mr. Franklin was charged with violating internal work rules prohibiting altercations,” Riestenberg said.
“The white employee wasn’t charged with anything,” he said.
After returning from his six-month leave, Franklin transferred out of Roseville. He’s now part of a UP crew that installs train-signal systems across the West.
And, Franklin said, he hasn’t had any on-the-job problems since getting out of Roseville.