Noose Incident Fuels Bias, Harassment Trial for White Employee

An Idaho concrete company must face trial on a White employee’s claims that a workplace noose and coworkers’ anti-Black racist slurs constituted associational discrimination and harassment, a federal judge ruled.

The decision Tuesday by the US District Court for the District of Idaho held that “stand-alone” associational bias claims are viable under 42 U.S.C. §1981, addressing a question not yet directly settled by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Other federal circuits have recognized such claims and the Ninth Circuit has held under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that White workers are protected from ...