Reference no: EM131655017

Ms. Walker was a permanent clerk typist in the Internal Revenue Service’s Atlanta office. Ms. Walker is a light-skinned black person. Her supervisor was Ruby Lewis. Ms. Lewis is a dark-skinned black person. The employees in the office in which Ms. Walker and Ms. Lewis worked were predominantly black. In fact, following her termination, Ms. Walker was replaced by a black person. The working relationship between Ms. Walker and Ms. Lewis was strained from the very beginning, since approximately November of 1985. Ms. Walker contends that Ms. Lewis singled her out for close scrutiny and reprimanded her for many things that were false or insubstantial. Ms. Walker’s relationship with her former supervisor, Virginia Fite, was a cordial one. In fact, Ms. Walker received a favorable recommendation from Ms. Fite. Ms. Walker met with Sidney Douglas, the EEO program manager for the Internal Revenue Service’s Atlanta district about the problems she was having with Ms. Lewis. Two weeks later, pursuant to Ms. Lewis’s recommendation, Ms. Walker was terminated. The reasons given for her termination were: (1) tardiness to work; (2) laziness; (3) incompetence; and (4) attitude problems. It is Ms. Walker’s belief that the reasons were fabricated and were the result of Ms. Lewis’s personal hostility towards Ms. Walker because of Ms. Walker’s light skin.

Question: The issue is whether color discrimination includes difference between light-skinned and dark-skinned people of the same race. Explain.