HOUSTON – A local woman claims in a federal lawsuit that a nonprofit cancer organization terminated her for complaining about racial discrimination.
Tanika Sikes filed the suit against the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas on Nov. 28.
Formerly employed by the defendant as an outreach coordinator on what appeared to be a probationary basis, Sikes, who is black, explains that “initially worked without incident.”
“Things were about to change for the worse” when the lone African American outreach coordinator fell under the second-line supervision of a campaign director who was not black and reportedly treated Sikes poorly compared the complainant’s white counterparts.
The original petition asserts that the director allowed other employees’ mistakes to slide while scrutinizing those of Sikes, as well as required the plaintiff “to work late on matters that were not emergencies and with no advance warning.”
The legitimacy of Sikes’s work was constantly questioned, the suit says.
She “had had enough” and spoke to LLS’s development director about the discrimination in question.
“The aforementioned conversation proved detrimental,” court papers say. “That very day, the plaintiff Sikes was terminated.”
Consequently, the complainant seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
She is represented by Katrina Patrick of Bellaire.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case No. 4:18-CV-4480