Racial Discrimination Claims at Motorcycle Plant Revived

Takeaway: Employers that allow the existence of a hostile workplace environment that is racially motivated are in violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act.

The Supreme Court of Missouri held that a lower court erred in sustaining Harley-Davidson and Syncreon’s motion to dismiss claims against them for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and aiding and abetting racial discrimination. The opinion of the lower court was vacated as to those claims, and the case was remanded for further proceedings.

In May 2019, several employees at the Harley-Davidson Motor Company motorcycle factory in Kansas City, Mo., filed a charge of racial discrimination with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights against Harley-Davidson and Syncreon, a firm that provided workers for the plant. The commission issued the employees a notice of right to sue, and they did so in the Circuit Court of Platte County, Mo., alleging multiple violations of the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA).

Harley-Davidson and Syncreon moved to dismiss the claims, arguing the employees failed to allege facts sufficient to support each claim. The circuit court sustained the motion and dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims. The employees appealed the dismissal of three counts: 1) hostile work environment against Harley-Davidson and Syncreon, 2) aiding and abetting racial discrimination against Harley-Davidson, and 3) aiding and abetting racial discrimination against Syncreon.

According to court papers, the plaintiffs alleged that racially motivated acts and confrontations at the plant created a racially charged climate of fear, intimidation and hostility for Black employees and caused them to feel unsafe.

The state Supreme Court said a successful claim under the MHRA requires an individual to show that: 1) they are a member of a protected group under the MHRA, 2) they were subjected to harassment, 3) their membership in the protected group was a motivating factor in the harassment, and 4) a term, condition or privilege of their employment was affected by the harassment.

Harley-Davidson and Syncreon disputed the second and fourth elements, saying that none of the employees said they actually witnessed or experienced any of the incidents they described.

According to the Missouri Supreme Court, the employees alleged that harassing conduct was severe or pervasive enough to create an abusive working environment. The employees said they subjectively viewed it as such, alleging the harassment affected their dignity, work performance and physiological well-being. The alleged display of nooses, graffitied swastikas and racist threats constituted severe and pervasive harassing conduct as objectively viewed by a reasonable person. The court found sufficient basis to support a claim for hostile work environment under the MHRA.

The employees also alleged that Harley-Davidson and Syncreon aided and abetted the racial discrimination that gave rise to the hostile work environment, in violation of the MHRA. They also claimed that Syncreon’s operations at the plant were closely entwined with and dependent upon Harley-Davidson, according to the court.

The employees claimed that Harley-Davidson physically divided the plant with a line that the predominantly Black Syncreon employees were prohibited from crossing, but that the majority white Harley-Davidson employees were permitted to cross. The plaintiffs also alleged several occurrences when Harley-Davidson “failed to prohibit Syncreon management or its own employees from engaging in acts creating the alleged hostile work environment,” and that either Syncreon or Harley-Davidson management attempted to destroy evidence of racial harassment.

The state Supreme Court thus agreed that the plaintiffs pleaded adequate facts that Harley-Davidson and Syncreon’s acts aided and abetted others in creating and fostering a hostile work environment at the plant.

Matthews v. Harley-Davidson, Supreme Court of Missouri, No. SC100116 (Jan. 30, 2024).

D.M. Fera is a freelance writer in the Washington, D.C., area.