William Simpson
The Georgia plant where General Mills makes cereal and trail mixes is run by a “Good Ole Boy” network of white men who have spent decades unfairly demeaning and hurling racial slurs at Black workers, eight current and former employees claim in a federal government. lawsuit archived this week.
The class action, filed in the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta, accused General Mills of violating federal civil rights laws as well as state and federal racketeering laws.
Specifically, the plaintiffs accuse white supervisors at the Covington plant of numerous racist acts allegedly committed over two decades and intended to punish and intimidate black employees. This includes an alleged 1993 incident in which a noose was left on a black employee’s desk, the lawsuit states. In another, according to the complaint, the word “coon” was written on a work form used by one of the plaintiffs.
“In the 1990s, white employees, without fear of repercussions from management or HR, openly used the N-word and other racial slurs and attempted to intimidate black employees with racial hostility,” the lawsuit alleges.
Senior managers at General Mills never reprimanded supervisors for their racist behavior, the lawsuit claims.
“HR routinely informs racist white supervisors about the content of complaints against them, along with the identity of the black employees who made the complaint,” the complaint states. “This often results in retaliation against employees of color.”
The Covington plant, opened by General Mills in 1988, makes Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs and Trix cereals.
General Mills declined to comment on the litigation. “General Mills has a long-standing and ongoing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and we do not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” the company said in a statement.
Georgia attorney Douglas Dean, who represents the Black employees, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Recent cases of alleged racial discrimination in the workplace have led to major legal settlements. In 2023, for example, fitness chain Equinox agreed to an $11.2 million settlement after a black former employee in New York accused a white co-worker of refusing to accept her as her boss.
Also last year, a federal jury received US$3.2 million in compensation to a black former worker at a Tesla factory in California who alleged rampant racial discrimination at the facility.
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