General Mills Sued for Racial Discrimination and Retaliation
Minneapolis, MN — As corporations across the United States gleefully regress back to their racist roots with the second Trump term, a fired worker in Minnesota is fighting back. General Mills, headquartered in a western Minneapolis suburb, is facing a lawsuit filed by a Black worker who claims he was fired as retaliation for speaking out against racist Black History Month literature that General Mills passed to employees.
L. Lee Tyus Jr. was a packing technician at General Mills for five plus years before being fired in March 2025, according to the complaint (pdf). A month before his firing, General Mills distributed tabletop flyers titled “Fun Facts About Black History” that featured information on the Tulsa Race Massacre and the Black Codes.
“In my opinion, calling the Tulsa Race Massacre a ‘fun fact’ was deeply inappropriate,” said Tyus Jr. in a statement to Unicorn Riot. “Seeing that language used to describe such a violent part of Black history was upsetting and, to me, showed a lack of understanding and respect.”
The lawsuit states that Tyus Jr. immediately reported his feelings of being offended to Human Resources and his superiors. He asked if similar events involving white individuals would also be labeled as “fun facts” to which the HR Manager replied, “No, it would just be labeled ‘American Tragedies.'”
The Tulsa Race Massacre was an anti-Black race riot in 1921 that featured 10,000 white men — many armed and deputized by the government — attacking the vibrant Greenwood community, also known as Black Wall Street, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hundreds of Black residents were killed and the community was destroyed by arson attacks and bombings from airplanes. The survivors were rounded up and forced into concentration camps.
The Black Codes were repressive laws made in the South in retaliation for the emancipation of Black people after the Civil War and meant to instill practices of slavery.
The complaint states that Tyus Jr. used some vacation and sick leave time to mentally deal with the “inadequate response to his concerns.” He then emailed General Mills’ Plant Manager on Feb. 14 expressing disappointment with the the documents “racially unjust, inconsiderate, hateful, and unprofessional.”
Four days later, Tyus Jr. was told General Mills would not be issuing an apology. He submitted a complaint to EthicsPoint, a whistleblowing and incident management system run by General Mills. That same day, Tyus Jr. was placed on leave by General Mills for a “perceived disability,” according to the lawsuit, and directed to submit a medical clearance to return to work.
Tyus Jr. was able to return to work on March 8, however his access card remained deactivated. As he tried to access the building, a co-worker commented to him, “at least they don’t have your picture on the wall.” The complaint states this caused Tyus Jr. “great emotional distress, including feeling embarrassed, degraded, humiliated, disrespected, vilified, and retaliated against.”
A week later, Tyus Jr. spoke with the senior employee relations lead and was encouraged to reach out to other employees who may have also been offended. Tyus Jr. then created a document that was approved by his supervisor and with permission, he placed copies of the document on break room tables.
General Mills then escorted Tyus Jr. from the building and terminated his employment, according to the lawsuit. The corporation claimed Tyus Jr. violated General Mills’ standards of conduct and policies.
“I raised my concerns because I believed it mattered and hoped General Mills would acknowledge the harm and take accountability,” said Tyus Jr. “Instead, I felt I was punished for speaking up. That experience was humiliating and left me feeling silenced for doing what I thought was right.”
The complaint claims Race and Color Discrimination (Minn. Stat. § 363A.08, subd. 2.), Disability Discrimination (Minn. Stat. § 363A.08, subd. 2.), and Retaliation for Opposing Discrimination (Minn. Stat. § 363A.15). For each count, the lawsuit asks for $50,000.
The complaint demanding a jury trial was filed in late June in Hennepin County. The case has since been moved to Carver County — the county where the General Mills Chanhassen Plant that Tyus Jr. worked at is located. No date for the trial has been set as of August 4.
Tyus’ Attorney Naomi Martin stated, “General Mills has a national brand and a deep Minnesota footprint. In my view, that kind of presence comes with responsibility and a company of this size should be modeling what it means to support employees who speak up—not firing them.”
Read the lawsuit below.
General Mills did not respond to a request for comment.
Cover image by Niko Georgiades for Unicorn Riot.
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