Critical Shifts :
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Failure to Implement Effective Remedies: Despite multiple complaints from employees, the dealership’s management failed to take "effective remedial action." Even after initial counseling, the finance manager repeated the harassment, culminating in the use of a severe racial slur, yet he was not removed from his position or seriously disciplined.
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Hostile Work Environment and Constructive Discharge: The repeated use of the term "boy" and the N-word created a work environment so toxic that two salesmen felt "compelled to leave their jobs." This highlights the legal risk of "constructive discharge," where an employer’s inaction forces employees to resign.
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EEOC Enforcement of Title VII: The lawsuit underscores that the EEOC views racial slurs as "serious misconduct" that requires immediate and decisive intervention. By filing suit under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the agency is signaling that it will step in to litigate when internal company processes fail to stop racial harassment.
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BALTIMORE – Ourisman Edgewood I, Inc., trading as Ourisman Toyota 40, and parent company Ourisman Cars Management Company, LLC, which owns and operates approximately 50 car dealerships in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., violated federal employment law by failing to take effective remedial action in response to racial harassment of car salesmen, according to a new lawsuit the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced March 27.
According to the suit, after a finance manager at the Edgewood, Maryland dealership called a black car salesman “boy,” in February 2023, the salesman complained to the dealership’s management. Despite counseling by dealership management, the finance manager again referred to the salesman as “boy.” The salesman complained to management again, but days later the finance manager for a third time used the term “boy” to address a group of black salesmen. When the black salesmen protested the finance manager’s repeated use of the term “boy” to refer to black men, the finance manager responded, “good night [the N-word]s!” The company did not remove the finance manager from his position or impose another serious consequence. As a result, two of the salesmen felt compelled to leave their jobs, according to the complaint.
“The use of racial slurs at work must be treated as serious misconduct, requiring the employer to immediately take effective measures to correct and prevent continued harassment,” said Debra Lawrence, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office. “When the employer fails to act, the EEOC will.”
The alleged conduct violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits harassment based on race. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Ourisman Cars Management Company, LLC and Ourisman Edgewood I, Inc., t/a Ourisman Toyota 40), Case No. 1:26-cv-01233) in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.
