Former OSU employee awarded $332,251
Monday, August 25, 2003 9:04 AM PDT
By Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articlePORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A federal jury has awarded $332,251 to a former Oregon State University employee who said his contract was not renewed in retaliation for his claims of racial discrimination.
The all-white jury deliberated three hours after a three-day trial before awarding the money Friday to Robert I. Brown, 63, who is black, for lost wages and compensatory damages.
He had claimed he was mistreated and passed over for promotion because of his race.
Jurors rejected the claim that his contract was not renewed because of his race but decided university officials had unlawfully retaliated against him because he complained of racial discrimination.
David Landrum, the assistant state attorney general who represented the university, declined comment. Brown was en route to Atlanta and could not be reached.
OSU spokesman Mark Floyd said "Documentation of employee performance is not tantamount to retaliation."
He said OSU and the attorney general's office would review the judgment.
Brown was hired as OSU's security services manager on a one-year contract in 1998 and court records show he got a favorable job review later that year.
Three months later Robert Specter, OSU's new vice president for finance and administration, expressed concerns about a "whole host of issues" in Brown's unit and supervisors began discussing whether to renew his contract.
U.S. Magistrate Janice Stewart wrote in court records that officials feared a discrimination lawsuit unless a non-renewal could be based on performance.
The contract was renewed in 1999. A supervisor wrote a critical performance report that year but never gave it to Brown.
In early 2000 Brown told OSU's director for multicultural affairs that he felt racial issues may have been why he was never considered for a new position, interim director of public safety, a job that was not publicly posted.
He underwent a job change and more short contract extensions but was not renewed when the last one expired March 31, 2001.
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