An epic court battle between Tyson Foods and employee John Hithon endured for 14 years, two jury trials, three circuit court of appeals rulings and a Supreme Court opinion. In August, the 11th Circuit’s fourth ruling in the case may have finally put a controversial end to the racial discrimination suit saga.
Hithon accused the company of racial discrimination in promotion decisions. In 1995, a supervisor named Thomas Hatley at the Tyson chicken processing plant in Gadsden, Ala., chose a white employee from another plant for shift manager over Hithon, an African-American who already worked at the Gadsden plant.
