Telecom giant AT&T has fired an executive who was sued this week for allegedly using his work cell phone to keep and send racially offensive images. Aaron Slator was fired as AT&T’s President of Content and Advertising Sales after employee Knoyme King, 50, accused him and other executives at AT&T of subjecting her to discriminatory behavior.
“There is no place for demeaning behavior within AT&T, and we regret the action was not taken earlier,” the company said in a statement confirming Slator’s dismissal.
The images at issue were found in Slator’s possession when he asked an assistant to transfer data from an old phone to a new one, the lawsuit said.
One of the images depicted an African child dancing with the racist caption “It’s Friday N—-s,” the lawsuit said. According to the lawsuit, Slator once sent the image in a text describing it as “an oldie but a goodie.”
“Slator harbors obvious and deep-seated racial animus toward African Americans,” the lawsuit obtained by the Daily News said. “Slator’s decisions regarding hiring, firing, promotions and raises are infected by his racism.”
The suit, filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, names multiple defendants including Slator, company CEO Randall Stephenson, other executives at the company’s Los Angeles office and board member Joyce Roche.
King’s lawyer Louis (Skip) Miller said Tuesday that Slator’s termination will not affect the lawsuit moving forward. “If anything, it’s an admission of liability. It proves we’re right, that it all happened,” Miller told The News.
He said the lawsuit is bigger than one image or one executive.
“The issues in this case are age, race and gender discrimination, and they don’t stop with Aaron Slator. These images and issues were reported a year and a half ago, and the company swept them under the rug,” Miller said.
He called King a “very nice lady” who spent 30 years building a career at AT&T and deserved better. According to the lawsuit, King, who is African American, was passed over for promotions and given unfair pay because of her race and age. “She’s a very down to earth, earnest, hard-working and loyal woman,” Miller said of King. “And she thought she’d have a career where she could move up. She never had a chance.”
article by Nancy Dillon via nydailynews.com