Conductor sues over racially hostile work environment - chicagotribune.com

Conductor sues over racially hostile work environment - chicagotribune.com: In his four years working as a conductor for Illinois Central Railroad, Solomon Perry said he tolerated a racially hostile work environment — swastikas penned on restroom walls, the occasional N-word transmitted over the radio and a routine disregard of complaints made by fellow minorities regarding racially motivated incidents in the workplace.

"You almost have to pick your battles," Perry, who is African-American, said in an interview at his lawyer's office.

But Perry said his silence ended after an incident at Markham Yard when a co-worker cut his dreadlocks with a knife while using racial epithets.

In a federal lawsuit filed this morning against the co-worker, two managers and the railroad company, Perry's lawyers claim that what happened to him was made worse by management's refusal to adequately investigate and address his complaint of racial and religious discrimination.