Former Marriott sales exec sues after alleged racial discrimination, including being asked to dance, likened to 'Buckwheat'

Hope Schreiber
·Writer
Daryl Robinson is suing Marriott Vacations Worldwide, his former employer, for unlawful race discrimination. (Photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Daryl Robinson is suing Marriott Vacations Worldwide, his former employer, for unlawful race discrimination. (Photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A former employee of Marriott Vacations Worldwide is suing the company for unlawful race discrimination, unlawful race harassment, failure to prevent race discrimination and harassment and retaliation for opposing forbidden practices.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, Daryl Robinson was asked to dance during meetings for other employees. The director of sales allegedly said, “Daryl looks ready to breakdance.” The co-workers apparently laughed and he felt “completely humiliated, dejected and felt completely defeated.”

“Admittedly, one time, he did get up and dance,” John Dalton, Robinson’s attorney, told NBC News. “There were a number of times he was asked and he was like, ‘No, no thanks.’ And when he did get up, he was the new guy. He didn’t want to make waves.”

Robinson, who worked as a sales executive with the company starting in February 2017, also said that during a team building exercise, which featured photos of employees as babies, he did not have a photo to submit. On top of that, as he claims he’s the only African-American in the office, it would be easy to identify him. Instead of including a photo of Robinson or omitting him from the activity, a photo of the character Buckwheat from Little Rascals was included.

Robinson left the meeting in tears, NBC News reports, and that later two supervisors apologized for the incident.

While Marriott Vacations Worldwide did not immediately return Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment, their spokesman Ed Kinney told NBC News on Wednesday, “We are aware of the allegations of this suit but as a policy, do not comment on legal issues and matters.”

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