A North Carolina jury awarded a Michigan man an astounding settlement of $10 million after he accused his former employer of terminating him because he was a white man.
David Duvall was fired from Novant Health, where he served as the organization’s senior vice president of marketing and communications in 2018. According to CBS News, he filed a lawsuit in 2019. The former exec claimed that he was let go because he was white and male and the organization had a push “as part of an intentional campaign to promote diversity in its management ranks”, but Novant expressed that he wasn’t doing his job.
Duvall was replaced by two women– one Black, the other white right before his fifth work anniversary. His attorney, Luke Largess, alleged he was fired right before he was to get an increased severance package.
Largess stated he doesn’t view the judgment as a sign to “abandon diversity and inclusion, it’s to do it legally.”
Novant weighed in on the ruling, saying, “We are extremely disappointed in the verdict, as we believe it is not supported by the evidence presented at trial, which includes our reason for Mr. Duvall’s termination,” a Novant Health spokesperson said in a statement. “We will pursue all legal options, including appeal.”
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that Largess made a statement regarding the $10 million award.
“We are pleased that the jury agreed that Duvall’s race and gender were unlawful factors in his termination — that he was fired to make room for more diverse leaders at Novant,” he said on Tuesday via a statement. “Duvall was a strong advocate of diversity at Novant. We believe the punitive damages award is a message that an employer cannot terminate and replace employees in order to achieve greater diversity in the workforce.”
Court documents indicated that the jury determined that the executive’s “race (Caucasian) and/or his sex (male) was a motivating factor in Novant Health’s decision to terminate him.”
