Black Department of State employees file lawsuit against Benson and staff for racial discrimination
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in Detroit at the signing of a 2023 voting rights bill | Ken Coleman/Michigan advances
Three current Michigan Department of State employees and one former employee, all Black, have filed a lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and several of her employees, alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices and enforcement of the state’s vehicle use policies.
The four employees – David Murray, Elvine Vanbolden, Mychael Foster and Nirva Civilus – all alleged in their complaint that “there is a pattern and practice of unlawful and racially discriminatory employment practices against its African-American employees,” including that retaliation against black employees who complain of discrimination is “widespread and well-known.”
Benson’s office denied the allegations in the lawsuit, calling them “absolutely false.”
“Every member of the Michigan Department of State – from top to bottom – must follow the law, uphold the department’s ethical standards, and come to work every day committed to serving the people of Michigan,” Department of State spokesperson Angela Benander wrote in a statement. “The Secretary and Department leadership do not tolerate harassment, discrimination, or retaliation against any employee, customer, or Michigan resident because of race, gender, or age.”
The four employees’ allegations generally center on department policies and procedures that were unevenly applied to black employees and not applied to white employees.
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The complaint, which alleges violations of the state’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act, reads: “White officers and supervisors of MDOS have adopted and regularly engage in a pattern and practice of enforcing said written and unwritten policies, rules and guidelines, as set forth above, in a subjective and unlawful and racially discriminatory manner toward MDOS’s African-American employees and in a manner more favorable toward its white employees.” »
The suit was filed Monday in Wayne County Circuit Court, the same day Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, the first black person to hold the office, announced he was dropping out of gubernatorial race against Benson to run for Secretary of State instead. The Michigan Democratic Party’s Black Caucus also endorsed Benson’s candidacy for governor on Tuesday, the day after the suit was filed.
Some of the concerns raised in the complaint relate to policies regarding the use of state vehicles – the plaintiffs argue that policies regarding the use of vehicles for the department are not evident to employees and are unevenly enforced for Black employees.
The department provided the Michigan Advance with department data showing that Civilus, then the department’s director of quality and customer experience, drove more than 7,300 miles in state vehicles between December 2024 and September 2025, nearly 2,000 miles more than the person with the highest mileage, leading to an internal investigation into his use of state vehicles.
“MDOS does not have written policies, rules, and/or guidelines, and/or those that are written are not clearly articulated regarding hiring, promotions, use of State vehicles and other State property, disciplinary action on employees, and use of performance improvement plans,” the complaint states.
The department also provided Advance with copies of the state driver agreements signed by Civilus, as well as other plaintiffs Murray and Foster, as well as the department’s travel policy, which notes that “Any personal use of a state-owned vehicle must be pre-approved in writing by the employee’s supervisor” and “All travel must be authorized and approved by the Secretary of State or his or her designated representative.” »
Civilus argued in the complaint that the vehicle operation conduct for which it was subjected to a performance improvement plan was not unique to it, writing that the State Department, “while aware that Plaintiff Civilus’s similarly situated white co-workers engaged in the conduct that Plaintiff was allegedly accused of committing, failed to enforce the rules and policies used to justify placing Plaintiff in PIP discipline and/or holding White Plaintiffs and their white co-workers accountable and in a similar situation.
The three other plaintiffs in this case, all of whom are still employed by the department, alleged that they experienced racial discrimination in other areas of their work.
Murray, who serves as the department’s executive analyst, alleged in the complaint that when he was hired for the position, he did not receive the pay raise that was originally part of the position — and that his white colleagues did receive the pay raise. He further alleged that he was not considered for a youth engagement specialist position, which was ultimately awarded to a less qualified white candidate, because of his race.
Murray also alleged in the complaint that after he complained about these discriminatory practices, his department supervisors began stripping him of his job responsibilities and unfairly accused him of violating the state’s motor vehicle policy, punishing him in ways his white counterparts were not.
Foster, a department training specialist, alleged in the complaint that he was held by his superiors “to higher standards of performance, organization and policy than his similarly situated white colleagues,” about which he filed numerous complaints with the department’s human resources team. He was subject to a performance improvement plan, and he alleges in the complaint that he was subject to it for a longer period than allowed by department policy.
VanBolden, the state’s chief administrative officer and deputy division director for the department, alleged in the complaint that she faced discrimination during her recruitment for positions at the State Department, particularly in one instance where she hired a black candidate rather than a white candidate, for whom she received a low rating on a performance evaluation.
“Plaintiff VanBolden’s white colleagues, in a similar situation (having supported the hiring white people), despite having had the same or similar behavior. would have occurred, did not refer to this behavior as derogatory in their performance evaluations,” the complaint states.
Two signed affidavits were filed with the lawsuit of former State Department employees. The first came from former Deputy Secretary of State Heaster Wheeler, who said that “African-American MDOS employees are still subject to the unlawful discriminatory employment practices described above that have become standard policy and practice at MDOS, and that have been accepted, tolerated, approved and adopted by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson,” and that this played a role in her decision to leave the department in 2024.
The second came from Angela Harness, former director of quality and customer experience for the State Department, who reached a separation agreement with the department in August after filing a notice of intent to sue the department. Harness also wrote in his affidavit that “MDOS knowingly failed to take steps to remedy what became a racist hostile environment for its African-American employees.”
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