Clennon Dewayne Melton v. I-10 Truck Center, Inc., et al.

Pensacola, Florida, civil rights lawyers represented the Plaintiff who claimed that he was discriminated by his employer because of his races.

Clennon Dewayne Melton is a black man who began work-
ing at I-10 Truck Center in March 2020. I-10 is a Florida commercial
truck sales business owned by Brian Brigman. Brigman also owns
a related business, I-20 Truck Sales, LLC, located in Alabama. Brig-
man’s son, Jason Brigman, participated in management decisions
at I-10, though he had no official role. Joseph Andrews, who began
working at I-10 in 2016, was Melton’s direct supervisor. All employ-
ees at I-10, except for Melton, were white.

Melton worked as a truck salesman. Melton’s sales perfor-
mance was largely consistent throughout his employment. He
sold, showed, and washed trucks, among other tasks. He also pre-
pared some paperwork that accompanied sales. I-10 expected Mel-
ton to work 40 hours a week and allowed him 5 paid vacation days
a year after he completed a year of work. Melton was also required
to clock in and out of work; Andrews was not.
Melton’s workplace was replete with racial hostility. Melton
“regularly” observed the Brigmans and Andrews make derogatory
comments about all nonwhite customers. Andrews refused to
serve nonwhite customers if he could instead pass them off to Mel-
ton. Brian Brigman referred to “dark-skinned customers from India
as ‘dot heads,’” and Andrews referred to “dark-skinned customers
from the Middle East as ‘rag heads.’” Melton states that it was “a
normal practice” for the Brigmans, Andrews, and other employees
to “use[] racial slurs to refer to Asian and dark-skinned Hispanic
customers.” The employees around Melton treated these remarks
as jokes and “often laughed when they used offensive language.”
Nearly every time a black customer paid in cash, the Brigmans and
Andrews suggested that the customer “must have gotten the
money from an illegal activity.” They made no similar comments
about their white customers. Jason Brigman told Melton more than
once that “a nonwhite customer from a foreign country would pre-
tend not to understand English until they were speaking about
money and then would speak perfect English.” Melton complained
to Brian Brigman about these comments, but Brian Brigman took
no corrective action, and Jason Brigman did not change his
behavior. Because Melton “heard such language . . . nearly every
time a nonwhite customer entered I-10,” and because nonwhite
customers entered “frequently,” Melton felt racial hostility toward
customers was a “normal practice” at I-10. The comments became
“a source of stress and anxiety that made it more difficult for [Mel-
ton] to do [his] job.”
I-10 employees also used racial slurs to discuss Melton be-
hind his back. Some employees referred to him as “token” as a kind
of “running joke” about the lack of diversity at I-10. They also re-
ferred to him as “n*****.” And in a Facebook group chat with sev-
eral I-10 employees, including Andrews, employees described Mel-
ton using racial slurs, including calling him “THAT N*****.” The
Brigmans were unaware of this group chat before discovery.

Summary judgment in favor of I-10.

Affirmed in part and reversed in part.