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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Employer Discriminated Against Worker |Who Committed Suicide, His Estate Claims

MINNEAPOLIS (CN) - The estate of a black employee who killed himself after his employer threatened to fire him wants the company to pay for the alleged racial discrimination he suffered before taking his own life. After working for Tennant Corp. for 28 years, Steven Potter jumped to his death from a six-story building at the Mall of America, the estate claims in Federal Court.

Potter was in a dead-end job, according to the lawsuit.

He was given "poor and irrelevant training and no help," and never got vacation or sick days, the lawsuit claims.

A white manager called him "Buckwheat" and stalked his home, the estate claims, and other white employees referred to his work area as the plantation and told him, "I am not going to do your 'nigger' work."

After giving Potter an unreasonable workload and trying to make him quit, his superiors then called him in for a performance review after threatening to fire him, the estate claims.

But Potter didn't show up for work; he committed suicide instead, the complaint says.

His estate demands more than $75,000 for the alleged discrimination.

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