{"id":180219,"date":"2025-08-27T17:03:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T17:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/180219\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T17:03:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T17:03:17","slug":"shell-ousted-white-security-staffers-for-weaker-diverse-hires-in-discriminatory-purge-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/180219\/","title":{"rendered":"Shell ousted white security staffers for ‘weaker’ diverse hires in ‘discriminatory’ purge: lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oil giant Shell USA allegedly ousted all the white employees from its corporate security team in Houston \u2014 replacing them with less qualified people of color in what amounted to a discriminatory purge, according to a bombshell lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Kevin Taylor and Gulf War veteran Michelle Romak, who are both white, claim they were booted from their jobs earlier this year despite each having more than a decade of relevant experience at Shell, according to the lawsuit filed in the US Southern District of Texas on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

They are suing Shell and Wayne Hunt, a regional security manager \u2013 alleging they participated in a discriminatory restructuring under DEI mandates that violate civil rights laws.<\/p>\n

Shell USA allegedly ousted all the white employees from its security team in a discriminatory purge, according to a bombshell lawsuit. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n

Shell did not respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

In January, Hunt announced an upcoming reorganization and required all of the white employees on the team to reapply for their current roles \u2013 though non-white team members were not required to submit applications, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

At the time, Hunt told Taylor that he had to resubmit for his current job because \u201cothers had expressed interest\u201d and Shell \u201cwas looking to diversify the talent,\u201d the suit alleged.<\/p>\n

High-level security roles were then given to a Hispanic woman who had a background as an administrative assistant and a black man with no background in protecting people or assets, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

A Hispanic contractor for Shell \u2013 whose contract had previously been in the process of being terminated for poor performance \u2013 also won a role on the team, along with a Hispanic woman without US citizenship, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

When it was revealed that she was ineligible due to her citizenship, the woman was given a high-level role at Shell in Mexico, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Shell says it aims to \u201cbecome one of the most diverse and inclusive organizations in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit accuses Shell of maintaining illegal racial hiring and promotion quotas in the US \u2013 despite actions taken by the Trump administration to squash DEI programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On its website, the oil company boasts that it is \u201cworking to become one of the most diverse and inclusive organizations in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has a Global Council for Race consisting of senior executives that \u201caims to advance diversity in our workforce so that it better reflects communities in which we work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor was stripped of his role and forced to relocate to the East Coast, while Romak and Thomas Hutt \u2013 a white man and US veteran who worked at Shell for 15 years \u2013 were fired, the suit claims.<\/p>\n

Hunt, who managed the security team, appeared to mock Romak and Hutt\u2019s firings \u2013 giving them each a \u201ctear jar,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit accuses Shell of maintaining illegal racial hiring and promotion quotas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is evidence of conduct that is callous, willful and wanton,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

It became clear that these promoted employees had \u201cobjectively weaker qualifications\u201d \u2013 with at least one asking Taylor for help with their new job, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Taylor was ousted from his role in Houston \u2013 where he was replaced with Ana Chevez, a Hispanic woman \u2013 and relocated to a security advisor position in the east region, which had been his third of four choices, the suit said.<\/p>\n

But Taylor has repeatedly been asked to complete tasks belonging to Chevez \u2013 like guarding the CEO \u2013 because \u201cit was well known that she was not competent to fulfill those duties,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

President Trump has issued executive orders seeking to squash DEI programs. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Taylor was passed over for his second-choice position in the west region, which went to Hector Erazo, a Hispanic man and contractor for Shell, the suit said.<\/p>\n

Hutt \u2013 who supervised Taylor and Romak before he was fired \u2013 said both were more qualified than Erazo, whose contract he had been in the process of terminating in 2024 for poor performance, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Since taking on the role in August, Erazo has asked for Taylor\u2019s help, claiming he has never completed a security assessment or security plan for executive protection \u2013 even admitting that he has never seen one, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The Post was unable to reach Chevez and Erazo for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat our clients experienced should alarm every American,\u201d Juli Haller, attorney for America First Legal, which filed the suit on behalf of Taylor and Romak, said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf a corporation can openly discriminate against employees because of the color of their skin \u2014 under the guise of DEI \u2014 then no one\u2019s rights are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor and Romak are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oil giant Shell USA allegedly ousted all the white employees from its corporate security team in Houston \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":180220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[64,9157,4345,379,270,47332,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-180219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dei","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-lawsuit","12":"tag-oil","13":"tag-racial-discrimination","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115101814545324637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}