A Black office manager at San Francisco State University has filed suit against the university that employs him, saying the school did not do enough to address an alleged continuous and ongoing pattern of unacceptable racist and unprofessional conduct and remarks at the hands of his former white female supervisor
These alleged remarks and behaviors detrimentally affected his physical and mental health, his work performance, ultimately forcing him to transfer to another department, the lawsuit claims.
In a new civil lawsuit filed on June 1 in San Francisco County Superior Court, Demauriae Vaughn is accusing the Board of Trustrees of the California State University, which operates SFSU and others, over alleged counts of racial discrimination and multiple violations of California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, which prohibits harassment based on a protected category, including racial discrimination against employees.
According to the complaint, Vaughn, a Black man, began working for SFSU in July 2001. In 2014, he moved to the Advising Resource Center (ARC) as an office manager. His solid work performance was recognized, and in 2016, he was promoted a new role as an academic advisor. Three years into his new role, he said a new supervisor, who was a white woman, began subjecting him to repetitive racist behavior.
The complaint included several specific examples of the alleged behavior. According to the complaint, in August 2019, then as an Academic Advisor he fielded an alleged incident of involving supposed racially insensitive remarks made to a student by his supervisor, referring to the student as a "runaway slave" and allegedly later commenting to a peer that she was going to “get [Mr. Vaughn] under control,” allegedly referring to the way white government officials had dealt with runaway slaves in America prior to the Civil War.
According to the complaint, the supervisor allegedly was known to also have a portrait of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in her office.
The complaint asserts that Vaughn's attempts to make the university aware of these alleged instances informally were dismissed or played down.
According to the complaint, in June 2021, Vaughn submitted a formal complaint to SFSU’s Equity Programs and Compliance office to be investigated. He contends that the harassment affected his health, requiring him to take medical leave. When his supervisor threatened termination, he allegedly was forced to take a one year leave while his complaint was formally investigated by the university.
According to the complaint, the investigation concluded in May 2022.
According to the complaint SFSU’s independent investigators agreed his supervisor had harassed Vaughn based on his race. But Vaughn asserts SFSU failed to reprimand, address or remediate his supervisor's alleged behavior, and she continued to work at SFSU for several more months before leaving on her own accord.
According to the complaint, Vaughn transferred to another office at SFSU.
Vaughn is demanding a trial by jury and is seeking general and non-economic damages, plus punitive damages and attorney fees.
Vaughn is represented by attorneys Arash Sadat, Camron Dowlatshahi and Iman Alamdari, of the firm of Mills Sadat Dowlat, of Los Angeles.