The former chief information officer at Wichita State University can pursue a retaliatory firing claim after he complained about a colleague’s allegedly offensive gender and race-related comments, a federal judge in Kansas has ruled.
The decision allows James Pulliam, who was terminated in 2014, to continue his Title VII suit.
The suit alleges that the university’s chief data officer made multiple offensive gender-based comments, including repeatedly describing the female chief information security officer as a “bitch” and making a sexually explicit remark in front of employees and non-employees.
As for the allegedly offensive racial comment, the suit claims the chief data officer told an African-American job applicant “don’t pimp us out” during an interview.
Pulliam said he tried to report the remarks to the campus president and a vice president, as well as to the EEO and human resources directors.
The university asked U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten to toss out the case, arguing that Pulliam “could not have had a reasonable and good faith belief that he acted in opposition to race or gender harassment, because the alleged harassment was not serious or pervasive.”
Wichita State also contended that it had already decided to terminate Pulliam before the complaints because of his unsatisfactory management style and that Pulliam “waited until he knew his job was in the line to report the conduct he claims was inappropriate.”
