In July, the S.C. Human Affairs Commission ruled that "there is reasonable cause to believe" the Transportation Department had discriminated against Malzone M. Russell of Ridgeland because of his race.
The ruling was kept under wraps while the department was given an opportunity to negotiate a settlement with Russell, according to Bill Harvey of Beaufort, Russell's attorney. But the Transportation Department's settlement offer was less than the wages Russell would have earned had he received promotions, and he rejected it, Harvey said.
Russell filed a lawsuit on Oct. 25 in U.S. District Court in Columbia, seeking lost wages and a court order to expand promotion opportunities for black workers within the department.
Transportation Department spokesman Pete Poore declined to comment.
Under federal law, Harvey said, the only way for Russell to receive damages or to change the hiring and promoting system at the Transportation Department is to file a lawsuit and use the Human Affairs Commission's ruling as supporting evidence.
In deciding Russell's complaint, Harvey said the Human Affairs Commission compared salaries of white employees in similar positions to determine whether he was a victim of racial bias.
The commission found a white engineer in a similar position had his salary increased, under the supervisor's rationale of bringing them "more in line with other SCDOT employees holding the same position." But the Transportation Department had no intention of bringing Russell's salary in line with those employees, the commission ruled.
Russell received a raise of just $2,500, compared with increases for two white engineers of between $9,000 and $12,500, according to the commission's ruling.
Harvey said Thursday that the Human Affairs Commission's ruling should bolster Russell's case.
"We think Mr. Russell's positive determination provides a much stronger basis for our allegations because the Human Affairs Commission has already found that in his case there is race discrimination -- and it's race discrimination with regard to hiring, with regard to promotion, with regard to merit raises," Harvey said Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed by Russell and Wendell M. Mulligan of Beaufort County, both of whom are engineers with the Transportation Department, seeks only actual damages for the wages they would have received had they been given promotions.
The suit also asks a court to grant class-action status, which could include 100 additional employees who faced similar discrimination, Harvey said. Mulligan also filed a similar complaint, but the Human Affairs Commission refused to take a position on it, issuing a "no decision," Harvey said.
Russell is an engineer who has been with the state Transportation Department for more than 10 years and has a bachelor's degree in engineering, according to the lawsuit.
His repeated attempts to get promotions and salary increases have been rejected, "while similar promotions, raises, advancements, transfers, positions and other employment enhancements have been given to white employees with less education and/or qualifications and/or experience," the lawsuit states.
Mulligan, the Transportation Department's resident maintenance engineer in Beaufort County, has been with the department for more than 21 years and has a bachelor's degree in engineering, the lawsuit states.