Black Court Officer Files Discrimination Complaint Against Massachusetts Trial Court Supervisor

A Black court officer has filed a discrimination complaint in Massachusetts after a the chief court officer reportedly used a racial slur to describe her. According to WCBV-TV, Misty Baker filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination alleging that Rob Vitales used the racial slur at the John Adams Courthouse. Baker, 33, has worked as an assistant court officer for the trial court for the past decade. She said the incident happened in June during a temporary assignment in which she provided security at the John Adams Courthouse. Baker said Vitale was upset about her work performance and asked Baker to fill out an incident report, according to the complaint. She said she later learned that Vitale called her a racial slur “loud enough for others to hear.” Baker said she filed a complaint with the Trial Court, which she says failed to investigate the incident and later dismissed her complaint. The same day, Baker said the Trial Court issued her a formal disciplinary notice. “No employee should be subjected to this type of discrimination, particularly not at our Commonwealth’s highest court,” said attorney Sophia Hall of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, which filed the complaint on the court officer’s behalf. “What was especially disturbing was to see how the court system turned its scrutiny on our client when she tried to pursue an internal complaint.”