Five current and former Black employees of the City of Long Beach filed a class action lawsuit against the city Wednesday, alleging multiple violations of anti-discrimination laws and systemic anti-Black racism
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In the lawsuit, Bazella Caprice McDonald, a special projects manager with the city’s Civil Service Department, alleged that then-Civil Service Director Kandice Taylor-Sherwood criticized the way Black people talk and told McDonald she “should focus on being more ‘white’” if she wanted to be promoted. After McDonald complained, she found herself excluded from meetings and ignored by supervisors, according to her lawsuit.
Taylor-Sherwood led the Civil Service Department, which is responsible for managing how the city screens job applicants and handles employees’ disciplinary appeals. Part of its mission is to ensure the city retains “a diverse, high-quality classified workforce.”