An automotive dealer that is being sued by a former Black employee in Illinois is facing yet another discrimination lawsuit, this time from two of its former Black general sales managers in Missouri.
Darwin Cunningham and Justin Norvell, two Black men who worked as general sales managers for the Ed Napleton Automotive Group, filed a lawsuit against their former employer last December.
Cunningham and Norvell were employed at the Napleton Mid Rivers dealership in St. Peters, Missouri, until October 2022.
Norvell was promoted from salesperson to sales manager in 2017 and then to general sales manager just two years later. Cunningham advanced that same ladder, becoming a sales manager in 2019 before being promoted to general sales manager in 2022.
By all accounts, the pair exhibited and maintained “exceptional performance” records at the dealership, increasing sales and outperforming other general sales managers within the Napleton Automotive Group, according to the suit.
Yet, their former employer “treated them differently and less well” than white employees.
The complaint cites one instance in 2021 when a white salesperson showed up to work wearing a gorilla suit and “mocked” Norvell. When Norvell reported it to his superiors, the company failed to take “corrective action.”
Additionally, while Cunningham and Norvell were still sales managers, Norvell was only paid 1.87 percent of monthly gross sales and finance for the dealership and Cunningham only 2 percent compared to white sales managers who were paid 3.5%.
As a general manager, the petition notes that Norvell was only paid 2.5 percent of monthly gross sales and finance, while his white counterparts were paid 4.5 percent.
Cunningham’s and Norvell’s workplace culture began to change after July 2022, when Napleton Automotive Group named a new pair of regional managers, both white men, who oversaw dealerships in the St. Louis region.
After Todd Flowers and Don Vannatta were appointed,…
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