In America, the realities of racism, discrimination, and retaliation in public employment—when one speaks out—are real issues that impact Black people navigating corporate spaces. Civil rights attorney Chiquita Hall-Jackson knows firsthand the impact workplace justice has on Black people, specifically Black women, as she is currently in the midst of a national court case in Chicago.
The established civil rights attorney spoke to Our Weekly about how Black people tend to not always know how to truly fight workplace harassment cases properly.
“It is a fact that there are so many people attempting to represent themselves, and they’re bringing frivolous claims to court. For example, a person says, ‘I feel like I’m being discriminated against in the workplace,’ so I go represent myself, whether because I don’t trust the attorneys, I can’t afford an attorney, or whatever the situation may be. As a result, they are empowering the employer, because they’ve just lost their case.”
The case, Montgomery v. City of Chicago et al., is currently underway and involves a Black female worker of the City of Chicago’s Department of Transportation. The worker, Daniyell Mongomery, filed the suit stating that she has experienced constant accounts of racism, sexism, and harassment. Montgomery is also pregnant, as the lawsuit says that when she had spoken up and attempted to report the harassment to management, nothing was done.
Hall-Jackson is a Chicago-based employment attorney, adjunct law professor, and founder of Hall-Jackson & Associates, PLLC. After experiencing race and gender bias in her own career, she became a fierce advocate for workplace justice, using her expertise to empower employees and advise companies on building equitable, inclusive environments.
She further explained that companies have insurance and a budget set aside in place to protect themselves when employees seek legal action, and that companies already understand how to muffle, retaliate, or get an employee to give up before actually taking legal action.
“I actually know people who have told me that their employers have literally said things to them such as, ‘Go ahead and go to the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission); we’re going to win anyway.” And so, they feel like they will waste their time.” She continued, “It’s a money thing in the sense that the employee who’s bringing it forward—the person who’s being harmed—they’ll file a frivolous claim, and employers will take advantage of that because they have the budget, they have the finances, and they have the resources to actually fight that. They could crush a person.”
Hall-Jackson further added that in national cases it’s important to publicly name-drop people who harm employees at companies, as their credibility is questioned in the job force when they try to get a promotion or move on from the company where they initially harassed a fellow employee.
Our Weekly has decided to not name the worker who is allegedly causing harm to Montgomery—they have not been charged for a crime as of yet—but were recently expected to attend court on July 14 with all parties.
According to ABC News, the worker said things such as “All you Black (expletives) and your attitudes.”
“We don’ t need no lazy women here, get her out of here.”
“We don’t need any disabled (expletive) working here not contributing to the work site.”
She further spoke about why the Chicago case is far from isolated, especially in regard to the broader historical implications of Black people maneuvering difficulties of racial and gender biases—on all ends of the gender spectrum—in corporate America. Hall-Jackson also explained that most people who come to her do not understand that if they are having issues at work, they must be properly prepared to take legal action—be legally sound and legally based—instead of operating on emotion.
She explains how to properly navigate taking legal action in her forthcoming book, “We Gon’ Be Alright,” in order to guide Black professionals through the challenges of workplace bias. Hall-Jackson said that she noticed a pattern of some Black people job hopping whenever issues arise with their white counterparts, specifically Black women who have had harassment issues with white women in the workforce.
“This is a cry of Black professionals and Black women who have climbed the corporate ladder, but they’re getting stuck in some kind of way. I have seen that every two years or a year and a half, they’re moving on to a different workplace, moving job to job, and can never get to the top of the corporate ladder in any particular industry and experience multiple roadblocks.”
Hall-Jackson is also a certified DEI expert and the first Black president of the National Employment Lawyers Association Illinois, the creator of the F.R.E.E. framework, and the architect behind ‘Blow The Whistle Law,’ a national movement advancing workers’ rights, and can be found on social media through the handle @blowthewhistlelaw. For more information about Chiquita Hall-Jackson, visit her website at www.chiquitahall-jackson.com.