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#Black woman wins civil case against black manager who used the N-word

A federal jury has awarded a black New York woman $280,000 after her manager, who is also black, repeatedly used the word nigger to refer to her during a conversation about unprofessional behaviour.

Rob Carmona, who runs the Strive East Harlem employment agency, was recorded using the language to Brandi Johnson, who said she was left feeling degraded and disrespected .

The case has raised questions over the use of offensive language among different ethnic groups. During the hearing Carmona said that he had used nigger as a term of endearment and argued that the term has multiple contexts in black and Latino communities, sometimes indicating anger, sometimes love.

Illustrating his case, Carmona said he might put an arm round a friend and say: This is my nigger for 30 years.

That means my boy, I love him, or whatever, Carmona said. Asked if he had meant to indicate love when he used the language to refer to Johnson, Carmona said: Yes, I did.

Johnson, 38, told jurors that being black did not make it any less hurtful when Carmona repeatedly targeted her with the slur as he chastised her about inappropriate workplace attire and unprofessional behaviour in March 2012. I was offended. I was hurt. I felt degraded. I felt disrespected. I was embarrassed, she said.

Last week the jury awarded Johnson $250,000 in compensatory damages. On Tuesday Carmona was ordered to pay an extra $25,000 in punitive damages and Strive ordered to pay $5,000.

Johnson had taped Carmona's remarks after earlier complaints about her employer's verbal abuse were disregarded, she said. The recording was played to jurors during the hearing, and Johnson's attorney, Marjorie M Sharpe, had said in her closing statements that Carmona's use of the word was intended to offend.

Any evidence that defendants put forth to the contrary is simply ridiculous, Sharpe said.

When you use the word nigger to an African American, no matter how many alternative definitions that you may try to substitute with the word nigger, that is no different than calling a Hispanic by the worst possible word you can call a Hispanic, calling a homosexual male the worst possible word that you can call a homosexual male.

Carmona's legal team had argued that he had had different experience with the word. Carmona, a 61-year-old black man of Puerto Rican descent, became addicted to heroin in his teens and but broke the habit with the help of drug counsellors who employed tough love and tough language, his attorney Diane Krebs said.

Krebs said Carmona went on to earn a master's degree from Columbia University before co-founding Strive in the 1980s. Now, most of Strive's employees are black women, defence attorney Diane Krebs told jurors in her opening statement.

And Mr Carmona is himself black, as you yourselves can see, Krebs said.

In his testimony, Carmona said he had used the term nigger with Johnson to convey that she was too emotional, wrapped up in her, at least the negative aspects of human nature .

The controversy is a blemish on Strive, which has been heralded for helping people with troubled backgrounds get into the workforce. Its employment model, which was described in a CBS' 60 Minutes piece as part boot camp, part group therapy, claims to have helped nearly 50,000 people find work since 1984.

Sharpe told jurors that Strive's tough-love program cannot excuse Carmona's behavior.

Well, if calling a person a nigger and subjecting them to a hostile work environment is part of Strive's tough love, then Strive needs to be reminded that this type of behavior is illegal and cannot be tolerated, she said.

The Associated Press reported that Strive was considering an appeal on Wednesday.