A black staffer in Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider‘s office filed a lawsuit against her employer, alleging that the office was a hostile working environment, claiming discrimination.
Patrice Campbell, a constituent services representative in the Lincolnshire district office for the Illinois congressman, filed the suit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Her supervisor, Karyn Davidman, “created an intolerable hostile work environment” against her due to her race, she said.
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Davidson, on a March 3 phone call, had been telling a story about constituents using lanyards to keep their face masks in place when she then told Campbell, the only black staffer in the Democrat’s office, “You are going to have to get a rope and put it around your neck,” according to Politico.
Campbell, who was “taken aback by Davidman’s obvious reference to lynching,” responded by saying that the quip was inappropriate, to which her boss responded by saying that the “rope” she was referencing was a “lanyard” for masks, the lawsuit stated.
“Fully aware that she was targeting Plaintiff and making light of a horrific reality, Davidman even mentioned that her husband had warned her that her statement to Plaintiff was totally inappropriate,” the lawsuit continued.
The next day, Davidman asked Campbell in an email to “put your face on camera please” so she could then retell the story during a staff video call in which she “laughed hysterically,” according to the suit. She then allegedly called Campbell after the video conference ended and said, “You should have seen your face when I told that story!”
The lawsuit doesn’t provide a “complete or accurate representation of the issues or her treatment by any office personally,” Schneider’s spokesman Matt Fried told the Washington Examiner in a statement, though he did acknowledge that the office had taken “prompt and appropriate corrective action to address Ms. Campbell’s initial complaint. However, the federal lawsuit filed by Ms. Campbell does not provide a complete or accurate representation of the issues or her treatment by any office personnel. There is another side to the story.”
Davidman had a week of paid administrative leave after the March incident, and she was told that she would no longer be supervising Campbell, though she just ended up giving her work through an intermediary, according to the suit.
“The Office looks forward to responding to Plaintiff’s allegations in Federal Court at the appropriate time and is confident that it will be exonerated in due course once all the facts are known,” Fried said.
Campbell made additional allegations about the work she was assigned in the lawsuit.
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Davidman did not take many constituent requests from minorities, and when they did take casework for African Americans, she got those assignments, Campbell alleged. She said that it made her feel like the “black people representative” in the office.
Campbell filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights on Wednesday, which is a required step under the Congressional Accountability Act to file a civil complaint.
