City Of Venice Ordered To Pay $195K To Fired Black Employee

VENICE, FL — The U.S. Department of Justice announced a $195,000 settlement Tuesday with the city of Venice, Florida in the case of a 30-year Black employee, James Williamson, who was subjected to a series of "unwarranted disciplinary actions," including two unpaid suspensions and ultimately being fired from his city job in 2016.

“It is both morally wrong and illegal to single out any employee for harsh and unwarranted discipline because of the employee’s race, and to subject individuals, like Mr. Williamson, to discharge because of race,” Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Eric S. Dreiband said in announcing the settlement.

The 15-page federal complaint accused the Sarasota County city of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex and religion. The complaint was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Venice city officials did not immediately respond to a Patch request for comment regarding the settlement. The settlement agreement states that city officials denied they discriminated against Williamson but agree that "this controversy should be resolved" without further proceedings.

“In this free country, all workers have a right to work without suffering unjust and unlawful race discrimination," Dreiband added. "This settlement agreement reflects the Civil Rights Division’s continued commitment to vigorous enforcement of the Civil Rights Act’s prohibition against race discrimination by state and local governmental employers.”

Federal officials claimed the city of Venice did not have legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for treating Williamson more harshly in imposing discipline than it did toward comparable white coworkers.

"According to the lawsuit, the city disciplined Williamson nine times, over a two-year period, including three separate reprimands in one day," DOJ officials said. "These punishments were predicated on Williamson’s supposed violations of work rules, such as taking normal lunch breaks in public parks, that were never enforced against his white coworkers."

At the time he was fired, Williamson was the only Black employee in the Parks Division of the city’s Public Works Department.

Federal officials accused the city of firing Williamson "without justification after he had been subjected to prolonged use of racial slurs, including the N-word, directed towards him and in his presence, and to close scrutiny of, and finding fault with, his work without legitimate reasons."

Under the settlement, the city will pay $195,000 in lost wages and compensatory damages to Williamson.

"The settlement agreement also requires the city to develop and submit to the Justice Department for approval anti-discrimination policies and to provide its supervisors and managers with training on those policies and on the types of conduct in the workplace that constitute unlawful employment practices under Title VII," DOJ officials said.

DOJ officials said the Tampa Field Office, which is part of the Miami District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, investigated Williamson’s case before it was referred to the Department of Justice as an enforcement action.