federal civil-rights laws protect not only employees who suffer discrimination, but also colleagues who face retaliation for standing up on their behalf.
In this case, a manager of a Cracker Barrel restaurant was fired for complaining about the unfair dismissing of another employee because she was black. The court used the anti-discrimination civil rights law of 1866 (a law used to protect newly freed slaves) as their justification.
This manager, who is black, consistently received excellent reviews, overheard and witnessed another manager use racist language and fire an employee solely because she was black. He was fired for complaining.
The court rendered a 7-2 decision in favor of the fired manager. You asked, who were the two hold-outs? Yes, the smug Antonin Scalia (Vp Cheney's hunting buddy) and Clarence Thomas. To add insult to injury, Clarence wrote:
When an individual is subjected to reprisal because he has complained about racial discrimination, the injury he suffers is not on account of his race; rather, it is the result of his conduct," ... therefore Section 1981 provided no remedy.
Whaaaaaat!? He is essentially declaring that if one gets fired for validly complaining about racism that its the victims fault for complaining thus the firing is not against his (Thomas) interpretation of the law. Wow! Even Bush II's conservative appointees Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito agreed with the majority decision.
I could see Thomas ruling in 1860 that slavery is not inhumane nor unconstitutional!
For more on this story click Wall Street Journal.
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