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Details: Two Dozen Slam CNN, TBS, Time Warner With Racial Discrimination Class Action Suit

An employee states he's "only been promoted twice" in 19 years.

CNN and TBS are facing a proposed class action lawsuit after plaintiffs claim they have been racially discriminated against.

A new court filing alleges that Turner held back the careers of African Americans over the last few decades, which has led to one former assistant being fired. Nearly two dozen current and former employees of the two companies say there is a systematic problem with “discriminatory practices being implemented throughout all of Turner’s Networks,” according to the complaint filed earlier this week.

The complaint states statistics showing how black employees at Turner are promoted much slower and at a lower rate than whites. David Meachum, who filed the complaint, told the website Law Newz, that the stats they used were gathered by Turner themselves during an internal study.

The complaint also reveals how black employees historically receive lower scores on their evaluations even though there is “no objective factor other than race that can explain this disparity, since performance is not linked to job title or education.”

Ernie Colbert Jr., one of the named plaintiffs, says that in 19 years of working at TBS, he’s only been promoted twice and was paid less than white coworkers with the same position. Others claimed they were fired after reporting management harassment to human resources.

CNN producer, DeWayne Walker, is also suing CNN for discrimination. He also claims he was passed over by the network for promotions. Since the lawsuit went public on Wednesday morning, Meachum says an additional 20 or 30 calls have come in from people also wanting to be included. Between 25 and 30 people are already a part of the case.

TVOne’s Roland Martin, a former CNN contributor, was also asked to provide a deposition. Turner has not yet commented publicly about the lawsuit.

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