Nashville Faces Potential Employment Discrimination Class Action

Nashville, TNNashville Electric Service and the Nashville municipal government are facing a potential class action employment lawsuit over allegations that they engaged in racial discrimination against African Americans related to job promotion and hiring, and forced them to work in a racially hostile environment.

To date, 20 African American employees are members of the suit, but there are reportedly 100 current, former and prospective employees qualified to join the class action.

Three plaintiffs allege that a 'dark skinned' training dummy was placed in their workplace in 2007, with a noose around its neck. The 23-year-old employee who reported the incident later found that her car had been vandalized by a co-worker, allegedly in retaliation for reporting the incident.

A further four workers report being denied jobs, jobs which went to Caucasian applicants who did not have superior qualifications to their black counterparts. And nine workers allege they were denied promotions to "traditionally white job classifications."