Suit against cable company claims black employee kept from working white neighborhoods

A former Time Warner Cable employee claims she was kept from working in white neighborhoods and eventually terminated because of race and gender.

Avis Minix-Carrier of Beaumont filed a federal civil rights complaint against the cable company on May 27 in the Beaumont Division of the Eastern District of Texas.

Minix-Carrier, who filed the complaint pro se, worked for Time Warner Cable from May 2006 until being laid off in October 2007.

According to the complaint, Minix-Carrier was discriminated against on the basis of race and gender.

"(The plaintiff was) not allowed to work in predominantly white areas," the complaint states.

Allegedly, the plaintiff was not allowed to share batches or work areas with white employees and was restricted to "predominantly black areas."

Minix-Carrier alleges that when she asked to work those areas she was told that it was the area of a white worker named Freddie.

"But when other white employees were hired on they were allowed to work those areas," the suit states.

The plaintiff filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but on March 4 the commission was unable to conclude that the information established violations of federal statutes.

Minix-Carrier is seeking injunctive orders, damages, costs and attorneys' fees.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ron Clark and referred to Magistrate Judge Earl Hines for pre-trial proceedings.

Case No. 1:09-cv-418-RC-ESH