Jury Awards $7.6 Million to Man in Job Bias Case

A black man who was allegedly told he was the “wrong color” for the job has been awarded $7.6 million by a jury, one of the largest discrimination damage awards in California history.

Rayford Hudson of Morgan Hill sued after being fired in 1993 as a project manager for Brand Services, a subsidiary of Waste Management Systems, the nation’s largest garbage company.

Hudson, who provided estimates for asbestos removal, said he was fired after a branch manager in the Oakland office told him he was “the wrong color for the industrial market” and used racial epithets to refer to him.

Hudson said he was Brand’s only black manager in California. He said corporate headquarters brushed off his complaint and punished a middle manager who tried to help him. His suit also said the branch manager rejected a black applicant for a receptionist job, saying the company was getting “too much color in the front office.”

On Wednesday, an Alameda County Superior Court jury awarded Hudson $189,000 for lost earnings and $500,000 for emotional distress; $1.46 million in punitive damages against Brand, and $5.43 million in punitive damages against Rust Industrial Services, another Waste Management subsidiary that merged with Brand.

William Plunkett, a spokesman for the companies, said they were disappointed and will appeal. They also will ask Judge Jacqueline Taber to reduce the damage award.

Hudson was laid off in a financially motivated cutback that eliminated 10 employees, only two of them minorities, Plunkett said. “Rust has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind,” he said.