Federal appeals court revives Seattle worker’s racial harassment claim

Seattle, Washington; September 28, 2026: A former City of Seattle employee who says the City’s race-focused workplace program fueled years of racial harassment against him won a key ruling today at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The court reversed a lower court decision that had thrown out Joshua Diemert’s hostile work environment claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and Washington state law, clearing the way for those claims to proceed to trial.

“Today’s decision sends a clear message: Title VII protects every employee from a racially hostile work environment, regardless of race,” said Laura D’Agostino, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “No one should have to endure years of racial hostility at work. The Ninth Circuit recognized that the repeated racial hostility Joshua Diemert endured deserves to be heard at trial. We look forward to returning to the district court so that Mr. Diemert can finally have his day in court.”

Diemert joined the City’s Human Services Department in 2013. Like all department employees, he was required to take part in the City’s Race and Social Justice Initiative, which included trainings on racial privilege and employee affinity groups organized by race. Diemert says coworkers directed racially charged language at him, trainers told employees that racism is in white people’s DNA, and a supervisor pressured him to give up a lead role so a person of color could be promoted. He resigned in 2021 and sued the City the following year.

In its opinion, the court said race-conscious training programs “may violate Title VII when they create a racially hostile work environment.” The court found that the incidents Diemert described were “sufficiently numerous, frequent, and severe” for a jury to decide his hostile work environment claims. The case now returns to the district court.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Diemert free of charge. The case is Joshua Diemert v. City of Seattle.