Former state employee wins $150,000 in reverse discrimination case

[ohiosmith]

Awarded $150,000, Mark Pasternak says he feels vindicated.
Mark Pasternak said he lost his state job helping troubled youths because he couldn’t stand working under a black boss who called him racist names like “cracker,” “polack” and “stupid white boy.”

Pasternak was dismissed from his position as a youth worker with the state Office of Children and Family Services in 1999. But today, he feels some relief and vindication.

After a rare reverse racial discrimination trial in Buffalo’s federal court, a jury Tuesday awarded Pasternak $150,000. Jurors found that his former boss, Tommy E. Baines, discriminated against him racially and created a hostile working environment.

more: http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/146892.html

[Fran Kubelik]

1. Call me an idiot, but how is this *reverse* discrimination?

Isn't it just flat-out discrimination?

[eyepaddle]

3. Yeah, I was thinking along those lines myself,

I'd say reverse discrimination is when you discriminate against the discriminator. Or something pointless like that.

Nevertheless, I did know what the article was gonna be about as soon as I saw the headline, so perhaps there is some merit in the usage afte all.

[kay1864]

2. $150,000 for EIGHT YEARS?

Doesn't sound like much of an award. Nor is it very punitive.

[tammywammy]

4. Agreed

He should have gotten a lot more.