‘Slave chain’ stunt at company retreat

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama federal court allowed a shoe store chain’s Black former manager to add three other Black ex-managers to her race discrimination suit. They allege hostile working environments and retaliation after they complained of their CEO’s behavior at a staff retreat where he allegedly led an assembly where he threw down a large “slave chain,” announced he was “the chain breaker” and asked a Black male to place himself in a box likened to the kind an escaped slave used to ship himself to freedom. Three of the managers were fired and a fourth quit soon after complaining, then were replaced by less-qualified white people.