BP fires Senior Executive due to ethnic 'look' but fails to investigate hanging 'noose' incident..

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/12/05/63457.htm

- BP fired a top executive after warning her that braiding her hair and wearing dashikis made her colleagues "uncomfortable," and that she should do so only "during 'culture day' [or] black history month," the former West Coast CFO claims in court.
Melphine Evans sued BP West Coast Products, BP Products North America and nine people, in Orange County Superior Court.
Evans claims she was fired after nearly 10 years with British Petroleum Oil Co. and replaced with a younger white male, after a series of overtly racial complaints.
Evans began working for BP in early 2001 as vice president of North America's Western Region, and was CFO BP West Coast Products in La Palma, Calif. when she was fired, according to her 24-page lawsuit.
She claims that her supervisors and other management responded to her complaints of race and gender discrimination "by telling her she 'was the problem'" and with a litany of insensitive remarks.
According to the lawsuit, these remarks included:
"'You intimidate and make your colleagues uncomfortable by wearing ethnic clothing and ethnic hairstyles ('Dashikis,' 'twists,' 'braids/cornrows'). On one occasion, a BP representative went so far as to ask Ms. Evans 'if she understood that wearing a "dashiki" to work makes her colleagues feel uncomfortable?'
"If you insist on wearing ethnic clothing/hairstyles-you should only do so during 'culture day,' black history month or special diversity events/days.'
"'If you are going to wear ethnic clothing, you should alert people in advance that you will be wearing something ethnic ...'
"'We didn't take any action against the contractor who placed the noose in the Cherry Point refinery because we weren't really sure the rope that was placed there was meant to harass or intimidate employees ... sometimes refinery employees practice tying knots and since there aren't that many black employees at the refinery and the knot in the rope was not tied like a noose knot, we don't believe it symbolized racial hatred or violence...'
"'They hate you and they are going to get you.'"
<snip>
Griffin complimented Evans for leadership skills less than three weeks before she fired her, according to the complaint.
Evans claims BP's reasons for firing her were pretextual, to cover for its "racist and sexist comments and actions and ... hostile and discriminatory treatment that was inconsistent with her similarly situated white counterparts at BP."
Evans seeks damages for race and gender discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination.
She is represented by Michael Taitelman, with Freedman + Taitelman, of Los Angeles.