CBRE Defeats Black Engineer’s Attempt to Revive Race Bias Claims

A Black engineer lacked proof commercial real estate company CBRE Inc. denied him a promotion or subjected him to workplace harassment because of his race, the Seventh Circuit affirmed.

The ruling Tuesday highlights the need for employees to ensure their employer is aware of harassing behavior in order to preserve their rights under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 42 U.S.C. §1981.

Sylvester Wince’s harassment claim was partly founded on an “appalling” incident in which co-workers wrote racist slurs on his lunchbox. But Wince never reported it to CBRE and “an employer is not liable for coemployees’ ...