MORGANTOWN — A longtime employee with the city of Morgantown has filed a lawsuit against the city claiming, among other things, the city has failed to honor a previous settlement agreement and continues to foster a “systematic culture of racism.”
Lamar Johnson, a 24-year employee of the city, filed suit in Monongalia County Circuit Court on Aug. 6 naming the city as the lone defendant.
According to South Charleston attorney Sean Cook, Johnson is suing because the city has failed to honor a 2020 settlement agreement that resulted from mediation after the city was notified of a potential civil claim over race-based violations of the West Virginia Human Rights Act.
Cook claims those violations resulted in disparate impact, disparate treatment, hostile work environment, retaliation and failure to promote.
The 2020 mediation statement, included as background in the lawsuit, claims multiple examples of racial slurs and racial intimidation within the public works garage as well as a lack of promotion of Johnson and another African American who was a 25-plus year employee of the city garage. It claims neither man had received a single promotion in their time with the city.
The statement includes an affidavit from the former director of public works laying out a number of concerns, including the termination of the FPC Morgantown (Kennedy Center) inmate work program with the city due to repeated racially discriminatory speech and behavior from the city employee overseeing the inmates.
Ultimately, in lieu of litigation, the city and Johnson reached a settlement agreement that mandated, among other things, Johnson receive the systems training afforded to other employees.
According to the lawsuit, that training was never sufficiently provided and Johnson was recently passed over for promotion in lieu of an external candidate who is Caucasian.
“Lamar has been intentionally excluded from numerous other training and educational programs since 2020 …,” the lawsuit states. “Lamar has now worked for the city for approximately 24 years and has been denied upward mobility and promotions despite his service and experience.”
Cook says any claims from the city that Johnson has not been promoted due to substandard job performance is “inherently flawed” because he would have been fired by now if that were the case. Further, “the same decision-makers who made such a determination are part of the implicit and explicit prejudicial system at the City.”
According to the suit, the city has breached its 2020 “contract” with Johnson, engaged in racial discrimination resulting in disparate impact, retained employees negligently resulting in harm, been negligent in employee training, has not dealt fairly and in good faith and is guilty of prima facie negligence for failing to follow its own policies.
“The City of Morgantown is aware of the complaint filed by Mr. Johnson, and it is currently under review through the appropriate legal processes,” Morgantown Communications Director Brad Riffee said. “We want to make it unequivocally clear that the City of Morgantown does not tolerate racism or any form of discrimination. We remain committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful and equitable community for all.”
