Black Man Files Discrimination Lawsuit After Securing Job Interview by Changing Name on Resume
CNN got a copy of the case that says a Black man sued a hotel in Detroit, Michigan, for employment discrimination. He says the hotel only offered him a job interview after he changed his name on his resume.
On July 3, Dwight Jackson sued the Shinola Hotel, saying that he was turned down for a job when he applied as “Dwight Jackson,” but was given an interview when he changed his name to “John Jebrowski.”
Jackson was turned down for a job “in violation of the Michigan Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act,” according to the claim.
The claim says that Jackson, a 27-year-old Black man, applied for several jobs at the Shinola Hotel in downtown Detroit between January and April 2024, including a job at the front desk. This hotel calls itself a “luxury” one on its website.
CNN got a copy of Jackson’s resume from his lawyer, Jon Marko. The resume lists consistently employed positions, such as working as a “Front Desk Agent” at the Detroit Marriott Westin Book Cadillac and David Whitney Hotels, which are both described as “luxurious” establishments.
Marko, a civil rights lawyer, told CNN, “Mr. Jackson had applied for a job that he was very qualified for.” On the other hand, Shinola Hotel did not offer Jackson an interview.
After not hearing back from his first job applications, Jackson sent out another one in April 2024, this time with one big change: his name.
The lawsuit says Jackson sent almost identical resumes to Shinola Hotel “twice for similar positions under a more readily apparent Caucasian name, with the alias ‘John Jebrowski,'” both times. The dates of work on the resumes are not the same.
The lawsuit says that he was given several interviews in the same week.
“Jackson established that the Defendant’s consideration of candidates was based on the racial appearance of the applicant’s name,” this is what the lawsuit says.
“Being turned down for a job in your hometown in 2024 because of the color of your skin is more than just a matter of money.” Marko said, “It gets into the mind of a person.”
Sage Hospitality Group runs the Shinola Hotel with them. An email from Sage Hospitality’s Senior Corporate Director of PR & Brand Communications to the hotel on Tuesday said, “We take this allegation very seriously and do not tolerate any kind of discrimination.” We want to create a workplace where everyone feels welcome and has a chance to succeed, and we want our employees to be as diverse as the people who live in the area.
Marko says Jackson went to the job interview and argued with the reporter at the Shinola Hotel. He told them who he really was and said that he thought he wasn’t given an interview at first because his name sounded more African American.
“Not long after Jackson went through the interview process, he was told he was no longer a good candidate for the job,” the claim says.
Marko said that discrimination in the workplace is common. As a civil rights lawyer, he also said, “We’ve seen a lot of discrimination in hiring, especially when it comes to leaving out minorities and people whose names sound like minorities.”
A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that name bias is a common problem when hiring people. Researchers sent 108 U.S. companies the same resume to see if race and gender affected the number of calls that employers got about job applications. The fewest calls came back to resumes with Black male and female names.
Marko, however, said that it is very hard to prove cases of name bias and that most of these cases never get started because there isn’t enough proof.
He said Jackson’s case is unique because he used an alias and applied for two similar jobs with almost the same resume, but each time he got a different response.
Marko said Jackson “wants to shed light on this problem that’s not just happening at the Shinola Hotel or in Detroit or Michigan, but all over the country.” He doesn’t want anyone else to have that happen to them.