Multnomah County Man Accuses Oregon Robotics Group of Racial Discrimination in New Lawsuit

The plaintiff says he is the only Black employee, and that staff referred to him as the “equity and inclusion coordinator” even though that wasn't his job.

Robot. (Saundra Castaneda)

A Multnomah County man filed a lawsuit Dec. 9 accusing his employer, the Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach Program, of racial discrimination and retaliation.

Court records say Dominique DeWeese began work as an outreach and volunteer coordinator for the nonprofit in September 2017. He was the only Black employee, court records say.

The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, says that during his three years of employment, DeWeese was subjected to "differential treatment, harassment and a hostile work environment due to his race and color."

He is seeking $400,000.

"Staff has persistently introduced plaintiff as ORTOP's Equity and Inclusion
Coordinator," the lawsuit says, "despite plaintiff correcting staff, on multiple occasions, as to his correct job title and role of Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator, because he is the only employee of color."

The Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach Program did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ORTOP is a nonprofit that runs an annual competitions for Oregon students to build robots that complete assigned tasks.

DeWeese alleges his employer primarily assigned him to robotics tournaments in Black communities, but rarely assigned him to events in white neighborhoods. He also alleges that a fellow employee pointed at and referred to him as a "colored person," and that his supervisor—who witnessed the incident—did not take steps to correct the employee.

The plaintiff says his employer failed to provide him with proper on-boarding training when his job duties expanded to include directing and staffing robotics tournaments. A white staff member then sent an email to the group's executive director, the lawsuit says, criticizing DeWeese's work "in an effort to negatively affect plaintiff's employment."

In early 2019, the lawsuit says, DeWeese reported work conditions to ORTOP's president. This resulted in retaliation, the lawsuit alleges.

"After plaintiff opposed defendant's discriminatory workplace conditions and reported the conduct to human resources and management," the complaint says, "defendant's staff escalated their workplace hostilities towards plaintiff, to include trying to negatively affect his employment, threatening to lay plaintiff off from employment, treating plaintiff in an antagonistic manner during staff meetings and requesting that plaintiff explain the nature of his discriminatory workplace conditions to staff."

From February to March 2020, DeWeese took a leave of absence due to the acute anxiety caused by his job, the lawsuit says. After he returned to work, DeWeese alleges that his employer told the entire staff that he had been on medical leave due to discrimination, thus placing the onus on DeWeese "to explain to staff why their conduct was racist."

DeWeese said he filed additional reports of workplace discrimination with human resources in February, April and August 2020, but that those claims were not investigated and addressed thoroughly, the lawsuit says.

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