A former employee of the WestCOP anti-poverty organization claims he was forced out after 22 years by a Caribbean clique of black executives that is hostile to Black Americans.
Don Brown of White Plains accused Westchester Community Opportunity Program of Elmsford of discrimination and retaliation in a Jan. 16 complaint filed in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
“He says all these horrible things happened to him,” Allan Roth, WestCOP”™s attorney said in a brief telephone conversation. “I”™m not going to comment on the complaint, other than saying an investigation was conducted and his allegations were unfounded.”
WestCOP is a $36 million-a-year social services agency that combats poverty in the Hudson Valley with programs such as Head Start for children, housing for homeless veterans, weather-proofing houses and organizing volunteer foster grandparents to mentor children. It employs more than 500 people.
Brown joined WestCOP in 1997 as a summer youth camp assistant. He rose through the ranks, serving as a head counselor, case manager, director of youth programs and training director. By 2018, according to the complaint, he was a member of the executive team, as regional coordinator for community action programs in Eastchester, Greenburgh, New Rochelle, Peekskill, Tarrytown and White Plains.
He said his annual reviews consistently rated his performance at or near the top of the scale.
A former director of human resources praised him in a 2018 letter “as one of the most reliable and dedicated members of the executive team,” the complaint states, who demonstrates “great professionalism and work ethic.”
A few months later, he was demoted in what he alleges was an action to humiliate him and make his working conditions intolerable. He was allegedly replaced by a Caribbean employee.
Brown says he was given more duties but no salary increase. He was denied $11,900 in incentive pay that had been recommended by two executives. Critical memos were placed in his personnel file. A new CEO belittled him as a “do nothing” and the executive committee treated him incompetent.
He attributes the alleged animus to a “scheme undertaken by certain WestCOP executives of Caribbean descent to eliminate Black American employees ”¦ and replace them whenever possible with Black employees of Caribbean origin.”
In 2016, for instance, O”™Dean Mangum, a Black American who served as deputy executive director, was forced to retire.
“This was the opening salvo in the campaign to eliminate Black American employees from WestCOP”™s employee ranks,” the complaint states.
In 2018, the executive committee allegedly forced out CEO John Savage, a Black American, and replaced him with Donnovan Beckford, a Black Jamaican.
The “Caribbean faction” has made it clear, Brown claims, “that they favored Caribbean employees.”
Brown asked for an internal investigation in September 2018. More than two years later, he says, WestCOP has not issued a report.
“We spent hours and hours with Mr. Brown and his attorney and every witness he possibly mentioned,” Roth said. “We conducted an investigation and each one of his complaints was unfounded.”
Brown filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission in September 2019. The following month he quit.
“I feel I have no choice but to move on after more than 18 months of harassment and troublesome encounters with WestCOP”™s current CEO,” the resignation letter stated.
The EEOC issued a right-to-sue letter this past October, enabling Brown to file the federal lawsuit.
As to the purported bias for employees of Caribbean descent, Roth said, “It is a very large organization with all cultures, races and religions.”
Brown is asking the court to declare WestCOP”™s practices unlawful and to award him lost wages and employment benefits. He is represented by Greenburgh attorney Howard Schragin.
