Ashley Chapman, a Black woman from Chicago, filed a discrimination complaint against a staffing agency after allegedly overhearing employees call her “white trash” on a voicemail, WGN TV reports.
Chapman searched for employment after moving to the Windy City from North Dakota. After enlisting the help of a staffing agency in the suburban neighborhood of Elgin, she received a voicemail; however, the caller failed to hang up properly and allegedly made some derogatory remarks, thinking Chapman was white. “Let’s see what Ashley Newman looks like,” one speaker was allegedly overheard saying.
“I don’t think she’s Black … I think she’s white … Yeah, I think she’s white trash.”
Chapman claims she also allegedly heard the caller say, “Your baby daddy’s married, and you’ve had unprotected sex.”
During a press conference, Chapman admitted that regardless of what she thought she may have heard, she still called the agency back. “I don’t have a lot of family to help me. I need a job. I need money for my kids,” the single mom of two said, according to Atlanta Black Star.
“People make mistakes, but they just took it too far.”
Chapman then reached out for legal representation and found David Fish, who called the message “repulsive.” The team filed a formal complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), a prerequisite for any upcoming lawsuit, and hopes the company is investigated. “It was a repulsive message, and in cases like this, you don’t find out why decisions were made. Usually, people aren’t stupid enough to leave a voicemail like this,” Fish said.
“What we’ve alleged in our charge of discrimination is that there’s marital status discrimination, that there’s gender discrimination, and that there’s race discrimination.”
The state agency is responsible for enforcing the state’s Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, military status, age (40 and over), order of protection status, marital status, sexual orientation, unfavorable military discharge, and physical and mental disability.
The department’s responsibility is to review requests for charges of alleged unlawful discrimination concerning employment, housing, financial credit, and public accommodations. The next step prompts an investigation into the case and then filing a civil complaint if evidence of discrimination is found.