Georgia woman says AutoZone fired her after encounter with racist shopper

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A South Georgia woman is suing AutoZone for discrimination.

The woman, who claims that her civil rights were violated, was fired from AutoZone after an incident with a white customer who screamed racial slurs and vulgarity at her.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the lawsuit described an incident in March 2017 in which a “regular commercial account customer” called into the store. The customer claimed that someone from the store had called his phone, but the woman said she “was unable to determine” who called him.

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According to the suit, the customer drove to the Thomasville location to yell at the woman in person. In an expletive-laced tirade, the man called her “a worthless piece of (expletive).”

“I don’t (know) why y’all have a bunch of (racial epithet) in here that don’t know nothing, and now you have a lady (racial epithet) in here and she really knows nothing,” the man said.

He also, according to the lawsuit, called her “a black (expletive)” and said “Trump is backing my money” and “you mother (expletives) are about to get what you deserve.”

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After an African-American female manager tried to step in and calm things down, the man asked to call corporate. The district manager and commercial manager arrived to the scene and told the woman she was being rude. They told her that when commercial account holders came in, she should “do what they ask and not say anything else.”

The woman told the managers what the man had said, but they dismissed her concerns by saying “those were just words” and to “suck it up.”

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Management wouldn’t do anything to help

Later that day, the woman said that she went to human resources, who told her to “just let it work itself out.” They refused to investigate her complaint about the district manager’s actions. She then asked a different manager what steps she had to take to resign, though she did not actually resign.

The next day, the district manager fired her and claimed that he was simply accepting her two-week resignation, effective immediately.

The woman is now asking for a jury trial, claiming that her psychological and physical well-being was affected by the incident and that she was deprived of economic opportunity due to her race.

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