‘Hey You, My N—a’: Black NYC Attorney Says Promotions Were Blocked After She Reported Supervisor Who Repeatedly Used Racial Slurs and Assaulted Her In Front of Colleagues, Files Lawsuit

A Black former attorney with the New York City Department of Buildings filed a federal lawsuit this week against the agency alleging racial discrimination and retaliation after she complained about a male supervisor who she says habitually made racial slurs and sexist remarks, and physically accosted her. Shelia Cockburn claims that soon after she began working as an attorney for the buildings department in April of 2019, she observed her supervisor Eric Dalloo regularly making “discriminatory remarks with heavy racial overtones.” NYC Department of Buildings (Credit: NYC.Gov) Dalloo would often speak to Cockburn and other Black employees “in Ebonics — an American dialectic vernacular form of English used predominantly by African Americans,” or in a Caribbean accent. He also allegedly used racial epithets in the workplace, often using the word “n-gga” at work, and deploying a Caribbean accent to greet Black workers. Cockburn says she heard Dalloo tell a Black employee, “Hey you my n-gga, we cool, how are you?” Her complaint details four other occasions in June and July of 2019 when Dalloo allegedly used the N-word. Dalloo also referred to the department’s Bronx office as “ghetto” while referring to the Manhattan office as “sophisticated,” Cockburn claims. She says...