Former TCU employee alleges racial discrimination leading up to termination in lawsuit
A former TCU employee is accusing the university of “institutional racism” after she was laid off and told it was because of budget cuts, a new lawsuit against the university alleges.
Linda Lopez, a former employee in regional development in the college’s university advancement department, is accusing TCU of terminating her employment because she is Hispanic, according to the lawsuit. Her lawyer says in the suit, filed Tuesday in the Northern Texas U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, that TCU is “permeated with an ethic of white elitism that has long discouraged the equal participation of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and other racial minorities in university life at all levels including academically and in employment.”
A spokesperson for TCU said the university was preparing a statement but was not immediately ready to comment.
Lopez had been an employee at TCU for 13 years when in February 2021 she was told she was being laid off because of budget cuts, about a month after she was told her department would not have any budget cuts and none of the staff would be cut, the lawsuit alleges.
In one employee review she received, a supervisor referred to Lopez as a “rock star,” according to the lawsuit.
Lopez’s layoff came after she made multiple complaints to various university departments about he treatment by her supervisor, Assistant Vice Chancellor Mike Edwards, according to the lawsuit. She complained in early 2020 that he was not respecting her Family Medical Leave Act time off for meningitis and other health issues and said instructions from the FMLA specialist at the university to Edwards to stop contacting her during her leave upset her supervisor.
She said this was followed by a bad review of her work when she returned. The lawsuit says Edwards “chastised Lopez for taking time for bereavement leave to comfort her children whose father had died.” The suit also claims Lopez began facing scrutiny of her work performance that white employees did not have. In April 2020, Lopez complained to the university that Edwards was discriminating against her based on her race, but no action was taken, according to the lawsuit.
In January 2021, the lawsuit alleges, Edwards gave Lopez “another unwarranted, inaccurate, negative performance evaluation,” and he did not include the comments of those under whom she worked directly.
According to the lawsuit, Lopez complained to her human resources representative at TCU on Feb. 10, 2021, that she was being discriminated against based on her race. On Feb. 11, 2021, she was informed she was being laid off due to budget cuts. According to the lawsuit, TCU’s chancellor indicated that TCU would not be making any cuts to staffing and there would be no budget cuts to her department.
The suit alleges that white employees with less experience and seniority were not laid off from similar positions when Lopez’s employment was terminated and that her position was given to a white employee who had less experience and tenure.
Lopez was told after her layoff that Edwards told other employees she was let go because she was “a bad employee,” according to the lawsuit.
While employees who are laid off at TCU are usually eligible for rehire, TCU said Lopez was not, according to the lawsuit.
She is suing TCU for reinstatement to a comparable position “if feasible,” attorney fees, expert witness fees and other eligible costs, and commensurate benefits “as if she had never been terminated,” according to the suit.
Lopez is seeking a trial by jury, and wants the court to declare that “defendant TCU unlawfully discriminated against Plaintiff Lopez because of her race, national origin and disability” in violation of Texas labor laws, according to the lawsuit.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 5:50 PM.