Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 16, 1994                   TAG: 9408160082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

JUDGE DISMISSES WORKER'S BIAS SUIT

U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson dismissed Derek Divers' suit because he missed a filing deadline by one day.

Divers, a city employee since 1983, said in his lawsuit that his white bosses rejected his application for a promotion to crew leader of the utility line service because of his race. The promotion went to a white worker with less experience, the suit said.

Davis filed a race discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in February 1993, but the EEOC ruled the evidence did not support a violation.

Even though the EEOC found no discrimination, federal law still allowed Divers to file a suit within 90 days.

Wilson dismissed the case because Divers filed his suit 91 days after the EEOC notified him of his right to sue.

In an earlier complaint against the city, Divers said white co-workers make racist comments on the job and that his department was racially insensitive. As evidence, he cited an embroidered picture of Confederate flags in his boss's office.

His case 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.

MICHAEL STOWE