CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A former top executive in a North Carolina-based health care system who claimed in a lawsuit that he lost his job because he is a white male was awarded $10 million by a federal jury on Tuesday.
In his 2019 lawsuit, David Duvall said he lost his job as senior vice president of marketing and communication at Novant Health due to efforts to diversify top leadership positions, news outlets reported. The jury said Novant Health failed to prove that it would have dismissed Duvall regardless of his race.
Duvall said in his lawsuit that he was fired in 2018 without warning or explanation shortly before his fifth anniversary with the company. He said he was replaced by two women, one Black and one white. Duvall, who worked in Mecklenburg County, accused Novant of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race and gender discrimination in the workplace.
If race and gender are both social constructs, why do we let people choose their gender but not their race? I have yet to receive a convincing explanation for this.