Reynolds Tobacco Class Action Lawsuit Says Black, LGBTQ Employees Discriminated Against

In recent legal news, Reynolds Tobacco is facing a class action lawsuit after being accused of discriminating against Black and LGBTQ employees.

According to plaintiff Hopeton Dias, Reynolds creates an “intimidating, hostile, and offensive work environment” for their Black and LGBTQ employees.

Dias claims he and other employees were advised that they worked for a “conservative company” and were told that their gay lifestyle was “offensive.”

Black employees also allegedly faced discrimination when the company failed to correct harassment against these workers.

“Although RJRT and RAI are at the forefront of tobacco companies, their standard operating procedure is pre-Civil Rights Era race discrimination,” the Reynolds Tobacco class action lawsuit alleges.

Dias adds that Reynolds Tobacco “systematically eliminated African American employees, failed to hire them, failed to promote them, and replaced them with employees were who not black.”

“In fact, [defendants] have a policy of creating a hostile work environment, including supervisors, that made and continue to make offensive comments relating to sexual orientation,” the Reynolds Tobacco class action lawsuit adds.

Dias says that he has experienced repeated discrimination as a Black gay man while working for Reynolds Tobacco. In March 2017, his Long Beach division team reportedly met with Kevin Feizkhah – the new division manager. When asked to introduce themselves and share something unique, Dias claims that he stated: “I am gay, not married, but hope to be someday and have children.”

Immediately after the meeting, Feizkhah allegedly pulled Dias aside and explained “[you] work for a conservative company, and it is in [your] best interest to be inconspicuous, and exercise discretion about who [you are], especially in the presence of those in leadership, with the power to determine [your] future in the company.”

Although Feizkhah claimed to be looking out for the employee, Dias says he found the statements to be “shocking and appalling.” Throughout Dias’ work with Feizkhah, the division manager allegedly reminded him repeatedly of his earlier warnings. Specifically, Dias was required to hide the fact that he was gay and was told that he “cannot be [his] authentic self if [he was] to succeed or progress in the organization.”

The Reynolds Tobacco class action lawsuit claims that Dias also experienced racial discrimination while working for the company. He claims that he was repeatedly called racial slurs and had his life threatened. Despite reporting these incidents to upper management, his concerns were allegedly dismissed.

In February 2019, after enduring years of discrimination, Dias says that he broke down while at the Reynolds Tobacco Trade Marketing Conference in Las Vegas, after he saw a picture of a same sex couple embracing during one of the company’s sessions.

After the general session, when asked by Elijah Wise – Senior Director of the Southern California region – Dias says that he shared the hostile work environment he had experienced and argued that the depiction of a same sex couple misled the general public into believing that the company would tolerate such actions.

Upon returning from Las Vegas, Dias was reportedly warned again by Feizkhah that non-heterosexual behavior would not be tolerated, and that he shouldn’t be misled by the images he saw at the conference.

In June 2019, Dias reportedly wrote a letter to various regional leadership positions, reminding management that it was their job to make changes to improve the experiences of minorities within the company.

He wrote that discrimination policies are not simply a result of middle management enforcement, but are also modeled by the top level management within Reynolds Tobacco.

“This instinct to neglect and abandon African Americans and other minority talents, when it’s modeled by those at the very top, with the power to change lives, it filters down through middle management because it gives permission for them to do the same thing,” Dias’ letter reportedly read.

“When the leadership of any company fails to reflect those within the workforce, the company and in particular this region, will ultimately lose. Not recognizing, rewarding and promoting within the minority pool, puts the organization on a direct path to failure.”

Following this letter, Dias reportedly left the company. In his exit interview, an HR representative allegedly admitted to the facts in Dias’ letter. Later, when talking to an employment law partner, the representative allegedly admitted to the facts in Dias’ letter and acknowledged that “the optics in Las Vegas were very bad.” However, despite these acknowledgements, Reynolds Tobacco has allegedly made no moves to prevent discrimination and harassment.

In addition to the reported discrimination against Black and LGBTQ workers, Dias’ class action lawsuit against Reynolds Tobacco claims that he and other workers were mistakenly classified as exempt and were therefore denied overtime wages. The company allegedly committed other wage and hour violations, such as failing to reimburse business expenses, unlawful wage deductions, and failing to provide meal and rest break periods.

As such, the complaint includes claims under California law and the California Private Attorney General Act (PAGA).

Dias seeks to represent a Class of current and former Black Reynolds Tobacco employees who worked for the company in California within the last four years. He also seeks to represent a Class of current and former LGBTQ Reynolds Tobacco employees who worked for the company in California within the last four years.

Did you try to get a job with Reynolds Tobacco? Were you denied the opportunity to work for the company due to discriminatory policies? Share your story in the comments section below.

Dias and the proposed Class are represented by Natalie Mirzayan of the Law Offices of Natalie Mirzayan.

The Reynolds Tobacco Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit is Hopeton Dias v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, et al., Case No. 30-2020-01147371-CU-OE-CXC, in the Superior Court of the State of California for Orange County.

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