By C1 Staff
HOUSTON — A former parole officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has sued the agency over alleged discrimination after complaining about a coworker’s noose.
The Texas Chronicle reports that Kenisha Boyd reported seeing a noose in the office of a coworker. Boyd is African-American, and filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, stating that she felt uneasiness and discomfort at seeing a noose every day at work.
After the complaint was filed, her coworker removed the noose from view. Boyd says that after that, the coworker and another began treating her differently from the way they treated white coworkers.
“Plaintiff was reprimanded daily for field visits conducted according to policy,” her complaint states. Boyd also claims she was accused of submitting blank or false travel statements, which she says were correct.
Boyd also says she was denied overtime, despite the office being understaffed. She was also criticized for incomplete work which Boyd says she could not have reasonably completed without approved overtime.
She was then suspended without pay on July 18 and fired on Oct. 9.
Boyd is seeking unspecified damages.