Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 25, 1993 TAG: 9309250076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Derek Divers claimed in a lawsuit that his white bosses rejected his application for a better job. The promotion went to a white worker with less experience, Divers claimed in papers filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.
Divers, a city employee for 10 years, claimed in the lawsuit that he helped train the worker who got the promotion.
City officials have said racial discrimination was not a factor in the case. An investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ended with the same conclusion.
In earlier complaints against the city, Divers has said white co-workers make racist comments on the job and that his department is racially insensitive, as evidenced by an embroidered picture of Confederate flags in his boss's office.
Divers' case has attracted the attention of the Roanoke branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which has complained that black employees are often stuck in Roanoke's lowest-paying jobs.
Divers said he filed a grievance against the city a year ago and that there has been no action on it.
But Ken Cronin, personnel manager for the city, said Friday that Divers has the option of one final hearing in the grievance process.
Cronin said that even though the EEOC found there was no discrimination, Divers is still free to file a lawsuit.
by CNB