The Issue of Black Worker’s Use of Anti-black Racial Slur

An employer recently successfully defended a lawsuit where the plaintiff claimed the discrimination laws “effectively enshrine a right for any person to use any slur which applies to their own protected characteristic in the workplace.”  The plaintiff argued that the term “has cultural significance for African-Americans and is a word that has a different connotation when used within the African-American community than it does to others who are not African-American.”  The employer defeated the claim that the employer should not have fired him for using the slur under his breath after he walked away from the conversation with another co-worker.  Murray v. Verizon Wireless LLC, 2025 BL 361884 (E.D. Pa. 10/8/25). 

This article is part of our December 2025 Newsletter. 

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