Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DISCRIMINATION—E.D. Tenn.: White male, fired after allegedly paddling Black female coworker, stated discrimination claims, (Feb 26, 2025)

By Jason Albright, J.D.

The plaintiff argued that his firing came in the aftermath of the rise of DEI initiatives.

A white male pharmaceutical district sales manager, fired after he allegedly paddled a Black female coworker at a national sales team meeting, stated gender and race discrimination claims against pharmaceutical manufacturer Alkermes, Inc., according to a federal district judge in Tennessee. Although his Title VII retaliation claim was dismissed, the former manager, who argued that Alkermes “abandoned its race-neutral process in favor of appearances” in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and the rise of DEI initiatives, sufficiently alleged, according to the judge, that Alkermes did not fully investigate complaints of his alleged misconduct and made the decision to terminate him because he is a white male (Williams v. Alkermes, Inc., No. 3:24-CV-00076-DCLC-DCP (E.D. Tenn. Feb. 20, 2025)).

Sales manager for pharmaceutical company. Alkermes, Inc. is a large pharmaceutical company based in Waltham, Massachusetts, and the plaintiff worked as its district sales manager in Knoxville, Tennessee for approximately 13 years, selling a drug known as Vivitrol.

National sales team meeting in Orlando. In March 2023, the sales manager and other district business leaders (DBL) attended the company’s national sales team meeting in Orlando, Florida. And at the afternoon session on March 2, 2023, approximately 50 to 60 employees competed in a team-based game.

The “Amazing Race”… During the game, referred to as the “Amazing Race,” each DBL received a small paddle, the host of the game asked questions, the teams wrote their answers on the paddle, and the DBLs raced to an “X” at the front of the room. The goal of the game was to be the first one to stand on the X with the correct answer on the paddle.

“[P]addled her bottom.” Following the afternoon session, a fellow DBL reported to the company’s senior regional director that the sales manager “paddled her bottom” during the Amazing Race game. She indicated that a territory business manager witnessed the incident. The senior regional director relayed the DBL’s allegation to the HR director but advised that he did not witness the alleged incident and did not see any inappropriate act by the sales manager toward the fellow DBL.

Interviews with HR director. Four days later, the HR director interviewed the DBL via telephone. The DBL stated, “In the hype of the game, we were all having fun running up and trying to beat out their counterparts; some light pushing, and shoving occurred by all the DBLs and the feeling in the room was fun competition” but added, “[The sales manager] hit me on the bottom with the white board and I turned to him and said, ‘What the [f***] did you just do?’ ‘If my husband were here, he would [f***] you up.’” She reiterated that the territory business manager saw and heard what happened.

Shortly thereafter, the HR director interviewed the territory business manager, who “claimed to have heard the sound of the paddle strike [the DBL] on the buttocks, recognizing the noise of the paddle on [her] bottom because [she] wore a jumpsuit rather than jeans” The territory business manager also referenced that the DBL was the “only female DBL in leadership” but made no mention of seeing or hearing any confrontation or any cursing by her.

Anonymous email. Within hours of the interviews, 12 of the company’s executives received an anonymous email with the subject line “Sexual Harassment.” The email, from a source named “Very Concerned,” addressed the allegations against the sales manager. It alleged that he “sexually assaulted and groped” the DBL, “slapped her in the derriere and then grabbed and squeezed her[,]” “put his arms around her neck and pulled her in very close to him,” and was “so aggressive in front of a crowd.” Among other things, the email also stated, “I am certain that this will be glossed over because [the sales manager] is a white male and part of the ‘good old boy Network.’”

Phone interview and discharge. The next day, the company interviewed the sales manager over the phone. He denied doing anything inappropriate and alleges that the company led him to believe that the allegations involved the jostling, or “light pushing and shoving,” during the Amazing Race game and withheld key details of the allegations to shape the result.

The company announced his termination on the call, but he alleges that the decision had already been made prior to it.

Post-interview letter. On March 7, 2023, the company sent him a post-interview letter stating that he was “guilty of ‘unacceptable and unwanted physical touching of a colleague at a work event.’”

Role of DEI? The former sales manager alleges that the company relied on “flatly contradictory, exaggerated, unreliable, and inconsistent evidence” in making its termination decision and, in truth, “purposely chose the optics of terminating [him] because he is a white male.” According to the court, he argued that, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and the rise of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the company “abandoned its race-neutral process in favor of appearances” and “sacrificed [Plaintiff], the white male, instead of addressing the harder known truth of discrimination by a black employee, [the fellow DBL].”

Lawsuit. He filed a charge with the EEOC, and after it issued a notice of right to sue, brought suit in federal district court alleging race discrimination in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, race and gender discrimination in violation of Title VII, and retaliation and retaliatory harassment. The company moved to dismiss.

Discrimination. The court first found that the former sales manager stated viable claims for gender discrimination under Title VII and race discrimination under Title VII and Section 1981. Although he failed to allege that he was replaced by or was treated less favorably than a similarly situated individual outside his protected class, that element, and the McDonnell Douglasframework as a whole, is inapposite at the motion-to-dismiss stage given that he may seek to establish a discrimination claim by introducing direct evidence of discrimination. And here, the sales manager’s amended complaint, according to the court, “contains sufficient factual allegations from which a reasonable inference can be drawn that Defendant did not fully investigate complaints of misconduct and made the decision to terminate him because he was a white male.”

Title VII retaliation. His retaliation and retaliatory harassment claims were dismissed, however, because the only conceivably retaliatory or harassing conduct that took place after the—protected—filing of his EEOC charge was an anonymous post on an online message board that referred to his firing for assault. And there were no facts to support the allegations that Alkermes condoned, tolerated, or encouraged the post or that its response, or lack thereof, was unreasonable.

The case is No. 3:24-CV-00076-DCLC-DCP.

Judge: Corker, C.

Attorneys: Justin S. Gilbert (Law Offices of Justin S. Gilbert Law) for Travis Williams. Jennifer Smith Rusie (Jackson Lewis) for Alkermes, Inc.

Companies: Alkermes, Inc.

Cases: Discrimination RaceDiscrimination SexDiscrimination Discharge Retaliation ESGNews TennesseeNews