Previously overlooked, a black man changed the name on his resume to sound less ethnic. Then, he got an interview. Now, he’s suing.

Yesterday, we discussed unconscious bias training in the workplace. Today, we’ll talk about an employer that may need some if the allegations in a recently filed complaint against it are true.

According to the complaint filed in Michigan state court earlier this month, a 27-year-old African-American man from Detroit applied on “multiple occasions from January 2024 to April 2024” for a job at a hotel. Each time, he sent in his resume with his name on it. However, the hotel never requested an interview.

So, the plaintiff decided to switch it up.

Allegedly, he “applied to Defendant twice for similar positions under a more readily apparent Caucasian name, under the alias’ John Jebrowski,’ using the exact resume, in which he was contacted by Defendant to undergo the interviewing process the same week.” The plaintiff claims this “established that the Defendant’s consideration of candidates was based on the racial appearance of the applicant’s name.” However, the plaintiff claims that, after he began interviewing, Defendant informed him that he was “no longer a viable candidate for the position.”

“Upon information and belief,” claims the plaintiff, “[his] applications were disregarded by Defendant due to discrimination of his race.”

This lawsuit has grabbed headlines because, well, it sounds terrible.

However, the hotel claims that the allegations are baseless. Its president released a statement to CNN noting that “of the four roles for which the plaintiff applied, three of them were filled by Black applicants. Both of the positions the plaintiff applied for using the false name ‘John Jebrowski’ were filled by Black people.” Further, the hotel filled all the positions before the plaintiff commenced his lawsuit. Indeed, according to the hotel, “more than 78% of new hires self-identify as people of color, with 66% identifying as Black or African American.”

As with most lawsuits, this story has two sides, and it’s impossible to tell yet whether implicit bias played any role here. I’m unaware of any court that has specifically found a defendant liable for discrimination based on implicit bias. However, a federal appellate court has noted that “the Supreme Court has long recognized that unlawful discrimination can stem from stereotypes and other types of cognitive biases, as well as from conscious animus.”

Additionally, in a decision earlier this year, another court noted that implicit bias training “can contribute positively to nuanced, important conversations about how to form a healthy and inclusive working environment.”

For more on implicit bias and ways your workplace can address it proactively (to avoid reading about it here and above the fold elsewhere), check out Jon Hyman’s post on this lawsuit and some of his training tips.