Corporate Misconduct Accountability Project
Harley-Davidson Motor Company Operations, Inc. · Class action lawsuit under Missouri Human Rights Act
Harley-Davidson’s Kansas City Plant: Nooses, Swastikas, and Segregation
Black workers at a Harley-Davidson manufacturing facility in Kansas City, Missouri, endured years of racial harassment including nooses, swastikas, and racist graffiti while management ignored complaints, discarded evidence, and maintained physical segregation between Black and white employees.
CRITICAL SEVERITY
TL;DR
Between 2017 and 2019, Black workers at Harley-Davidson’s Kansas City manufacturing plant discovered nooses, swastikas, and racist graffiti including threats like ‘N****** die’ and ‘go back to Africa.’ Management physically divided the plant with a line that Black Syncreon employees could not cross but white Harley employees could, creating functionally segregated bathrooms. When workers reported incidents or photographed evidence, supervisors threw complaints in the trash, ordered employees to delete photos, and instructed staff to destroy a noose. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in January 2024 that these allegations sufficiently establish a hostile work environment and that both Harley-Davidson and its contractor Syncreon aided and abetted racial discrimination.
This case reveals how corporate outsourcing creates plausible deniability for systemic racism, and why workers still fight for accountability years after the plant closed.
90%
Percentage of Syncreon employees who were Black
25
Number of employees who filed discrimination lawsuit
2017-2019
Years of documented racist incidents
May 2019
When Harley closed the Kansas City plant
The Allegations: A Breakdown
Core Allegations
What they did · 8 points
| 01 | Harley-Davidson and Syncreon subjected Black workers to multiple noose incidents including a noose found in the women’s bathroom in June or July 2017, and another noose discovered in February 2019 that a Plant manager ordered a supervisor to dispose of while another employee witnessed the supervisor cutting it up. | high |
| 02 | Workers discovered a swastika and a doll of a Black woman hanging by a noose in the women’s bathroom in April 2018, with no investigation or disciplinary action taken by management. | high |
| 03 | Racist graffiti including swastikas and the words ‘N****** die’ and ‘N****** go back to Africa’ appeared in bathrooms used by Syncreon employees in January 2019, and when Black employees photographed the graffiti, Syncreon management or Harley management directed the Black employees to delete the photos. | high |
| 04 | Harley physically divided the Plant with a line that the predominantly Black Syncreon employees were prohibited from crossing but that the majority white Harley employees were permitted to cross, and provided bathrooms that were functionally racially segregated. | high |
| 05 | When a Black female Syncreon employee was assaulted by a male coworker in November 2018 and complained to Syncreon’s human resources department, the representative discarded the employee’s complaint into a trash can and told the assailant to forget about the incident and get back to work. | high |
| 06 | In December 2018, a white female Syncreon employee showed coworkers including at least one Black Syncreon employee a family photo bordered by Confederate flags in which family members were depicting racist signs, and when a Black Syncreon employee complained to Syncreon, the employee was told not to worry about it and to get back to work. | medium |
| 07 | Harley and Syncreon did not investigate or issue any discipline for any racially motivated incident that occurred at the Plant or otherwise attempt to prevent the occurrence of racially charged incidents at the Plant. | high |
| 08 | Syncreon hired a white man to supervise Syncreon’s predominantly Black employees even though Harley had previously terminated the same man for discriminating against Harley’s Black employees. | high |
Regulatory Failures
How the system enabled this · 4 points
| 01 | The Missouri Commission on Human Rights issued workers a notice of right to sue after they filed discrimination charges in May 2019, but provided no investigation or enforcement action, transferring the entire burden of accountability back to the individual employees. | medium |
| 02 | The circuit court initially dismissed the workers’ claims for hostile work environment and aiding and abetting, requiring them to appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court, demonstrating how procedural barriers delay justice for years. | medium |
| 03 | Harley-Davidson’s use of Syncreon as a labor contractor created a dual employment structure that blurred legal accountability, with Harley controlling operations while claiming separation from Syncreon’s workforce of predominantly Black employees. | high |
| 04 | The case took from May 2019 when workers filed charges until January 2024 when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in their favor, demonstrating how legal delay exhausts workers and defers accountability for over four years. | medium |
Profit Over People
Corporate priorities · 4 points
| 01 | Harley-Davidson closed the Kansas City plant in May 2019, eliminating hundreds of jobs during the same period workers were reporting systematic racial harassment, prioritizing corporate restructuring and efficiency over addressing workplace discrimination. | high |
| 02 | Harley contracted with Syncreon to provide workers at the Plant, creating a two-tier workforce where approximately 90 percent of Syncreon’s employees were Black while the majority of Harley’s employees were white, effectively outsourcing risk and lowering labor costs. | high |
| 03 | Harley maintained control over operations at the Plant and had the right to control Syncreon’s actions and employment decisions, yet used the contractor relationship to create plausible deniability for discrimination occurring under its authority. | high |
| 04 | Management’s decision to throw complaints in the trash, order employees to delete photographic evidence, and destroy a noose rather than investigate demonstrates that maintaining production was prioritized over addressing racial violence. | high |
Worker Exploitation
Human cost · 5 points
| 01 | The racially motivated acts and confrontations created a racially charged climate of fear, intimidation, and hostility for Black employees in the Plant that was a pattern and practice and constituted a continuing violation that subjected workers to discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on their race. | high |
| 02 | The harassment caused Appellants to feel unsafe working at the Plant and adversely affected their physiological well-being, with workers alleging the treatment unreasonably interfered with their work performance. | high |
| 03 | Workers alleged they subjectively perceived Harley and Syncreon’s treatment to be inappropriate, hostile, and offensive, and that a reasonable person in their circumstances would consider the treatment to be objectively inappropriate, hostile and offensive. | high |
| 04 | Syncreon’s predominantly Black workforce performed labor under Harley’s control with less pay and fewer protections than Harley’s core employees, exemplifying labor stratification where the hierarchy between employers reinforced economic dependency and racial subordination. | high |
| 05 | Management’s pattern of dismissing complaints and destroying evidence signaled to employees that silence was the condition of employment, converting workplace vulnerability into a tool of control where protest risked job loss. | high |
Community Impact
Broader harm · 4 points
| 01 | The 2019 plant closure eliminated hundreds of jobs disproportionately affecting Black workers, with Syncreon employees classified as temporary labor among the first to lose income, benefits, and healthcare. | high |
| 02 | Kansas City’s Harley plant had been a source of civic pride and blue-collar stability for decades, and its closure compounded by revelations of racial hostility devastated surrounding neighborhoods and Black families who had depended on the factory. | medium |
| 03 | Public resources including unemployment insurance, social services, and local aid effectively subsidized the costs of corporate negligence when workers lost their jobs, externalizing the economic consequences of discrimination to the community. | medium |
| 04 | The psychological harm described in court records including workers feeling unsafe, intimidated, and humiliated extended beyond the plant’s walls into households and communities already struggling with racial inequity. | medium |
Corporate Accountability Failures
No consequences · 5 points
| 01 | Even with the Missouri Supreme Court’s January 2024 ruling that the workers sufficiently stated claims for hostile work environment and aiding and abetting, no executive faces criminal consequence and the case was only remanded for further proceedings. | high |
| 02 | Harley-Davidson issued no public statement acknowledging the racial crisis inside its plant, using corporate silence as a public relations strategy to avoid acknowledgment and protect the brand. | medium |
| 03 | The circuit court initially sustained the motion to dismiss, finding that workers as opposed to seven other employees named in the petition failed to allege they personally experienced the harassing conduct, imposing an unreasonable pleading standard for systemic discrimination. | medium |
| 04 | Harley’s partnership with Syncreon demonstrates how corporations exploit legal minimalism by maintaining formal separation between companies to claim lack of direct responsibility while controlling operations, complying with the letter of anti-discrimination law while violating its spirit. | high |
| 05 | The Missouri Supreme Court had to clarify that incidents such as nooses, graffitied swastikas, and racist threats by their very nature targeted and preyed on all Black employees in the Plant, not just those who personally witnessed each specific incident. | medium |
Exploiting Delay
Time as a weapon · 4 points
| 01 | The timeline from the first noose in June or July 2017 to the Missouri Supreme Court ruling in January 2024 spans over six years, demonstrating how time itself becomes a corporate defense that exhausts workers and weakens collective memory. | medium |
| 02 | Workers had to file charges with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights in May 2016, wait for a right to sue notice, file a petition with 25 employees, survive a motion to dismiss in circuit court, and appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court just to have their claims recognized as valid. | medium |
| 03 | The circuit court’s initial dismissal required workers to appeal, with the court of appeals issuing an opinion before Harley and Syncreon sought and were granted transfer to the Missouri Supreme Court, adding additional layers of procedural delay. | medium |
| 04 | Each procedural hurdle functioned as a shield for the company, transforming years of worker suffering into a slow-motion negotiation where justice remains partial and delayed even after the Supreme Court’s favorable ruling. | medium |
The Bottom Line
What this reveals · 4 points
| 01 | The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the allegations if taken as true establish the elements of a hostile work environment claim and aiding and abetting claims, vacating the circuit court’s judgment and remanding the case for further proceedings. | high |
| 02 | The court found that discriminatory harassment affects a term, condition, or privilege of employment if it is sufficiently severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of employment and create an abusive working environment as viewed both subjectively by the worker and objectively by a reasonable person. | medium |
| 03 | The case illustrates how corporate outsourcing creates structures where companies profit from racial hierarchies while using contractor relationships to dilute legal responsibility and create plausible deniability for discrimination. | high |
| 04 | Corporate law, outsourcing arrangements, and weak enforcement combined to prioritize efficiency and profit over humanity, demonstrating that the system functioned as designed rather than failing, with delay and procedural barriers protecting corporate interests over worker dignity. | high |
Timeline of Events
June-July 2017
First noose discovered in women’s bathroom at Kansas City plant.
April 2018
Swastika and doll of Black woman hanging by noose found in women’s bathroom.
November 2018
Black female employee assaulted; HR discards complaint in trash can.
December 2018
White employee shows Confederate flag photo with racist imagery; complaint dismissed.
January 2019
Graffiti with swastikas and ‘N****** die’ and ‘go back to Africa’ found in bathroom.
February 2019
Second noose discovered; manager orders supervisor to dispose of it; racist graffiti appears again and management orders employees to delete photographic evidence.
May 16, 2019
Workers file charge of racial discrimination with Missouri Commission on Human Rights.
May 24, 2019
Harley-Davidson closes Kansas City manufacturing plant.
2019-2020
Missouri Commission issues right to sue notices; 25 employees file petition against Harley and Syncreon.
2020-2022
Circuit Court of Platte County dismisses workers’ hostile work environment and aiding and abetting claims.
2022-2023
Workers appeal dismissal; Court of Appeals issues opinion; case transferred to Missouri Supreme Court.
January 30, 2024
Missouri Supreme Court vacates dismissal, rules workers sufficiently stated claims, remands case for further proceedings.
Direct Quotes from the Legal Record
QUOTE 1
Physical racial segregation at the plant
allegations
“a ‘physical racial division’ at the Plant, including a line that the predominantly-black Syncreon employees were prohibited from crossing, but that the majority-white Harley employees were permitted to cross; and bathrooms that were ‘functionally . . . racially segregated.'”
💡 This describes literal workplace apartheid enforced by management at a 21st century American manufacturing facility.
QUOTE 2
Climate of fear created by racist incidents
allegations
“these ‘racially motivated acts and confrontations’ created a ‘racially charged climate of fear, intimidation, and hostility for Black employees in the Plant that was a pattern and practice and constituted a continuing violation that subjected [Appellants] to discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on their race,’ and caused Appellants to feel ‘unsafe’ working at the Plant.”
💡 Workers describe systematic terrorism designed to make them feel unwelcome and unsafe in their own workplace.
QUOTE 3
HR threw assault complaint in trash
allegations
“In November 2018, a black female Syncreon employee was assaulted by a male coworker; when she complained to Syncreon’s human resources department, the representative discarded the employee’s complaint into a trash can and told the assailant to forget about the incident and get back to work.”
💡 This shows management’s complete disregard for worker safety and active suppression of complaints about violence.
QUOTE 4
Management ordered evidence destruction
allegations
“When black employees took photographs of the graffiti, ‘Syncreon management or Harley management directed the Black employees to delete the photos.'”
💡 Corporate leadership actively destroyed evidence of racial harassment rather than investigating or stopping it.
QUOTE 5
Noose disposal and cover-up
allegations
“In February 2019, an employee also discovered a noose while working and reported the discovery to Syncreon. Later, a different black Syncreon employee overheard a Plant manager tell a Plant supervisor, ‘I want you to dispose of it.’ Yet another Syncreon employee witnessed the Plant supervisor cutting up the noose.”
💡 Management destroyed physical evidence of racist threats and then lied to employees about conducting a forensic investigation.
QUOTE 6
No investigation or discipline
allegations
“Appellants alleged Harley and Syncreon did not investigate or issue any discipline for any racially motivated incident that occurred at the Plant or otherwise attempt to prevent the occurrence of racially charged incidents at the Plant.”
💡 Despite years of violent racist imagery, management took zero action to investigate, discipline perpetrators, or prevent future incidents.
QUOTE 7
Rehiring known discriminator
allegations
“Syncreon hiring a white man to supervise Syncreon’s predominantly black employees, even though Harley had previously terminated the same man for discriminating against Harley’s black employees”
💡 Management knowingly placed someone with a documented history of racial discrimination in charge of Black workers.
QUOTE 8
Workforce racial composition
profit
“The majority of Harley’s employees at the Plant were white, and approximately 90 percent of Syncreon’s employees at the Plant were black.”
💡 This reveals the deliberate creation of a two-tier racially segregated workforce structure through outsourcing.
QUOTE 9
Harley controlled Syncreon operations
profit
“Harley controlled the operations at the Plant, and Syncreon’s involvement and employees were thoroughly entwined with and dependent on Harley’s business operations. Appellants alleged Harley had a right to control Syncreon’s actions and employment decisions at the Plant.”
💡 Despite using a contractor, Harley maintained full operational control while attempting to avoid legal responsibility for discrimination.
QUOTE 10
Court ruling on hostile work environment
conclusion
“Because Appellants’ petition alleged facts that – if taken as true – establish the elements of a hostile work environment claim and aiding and abetting claims, the circuit court’s judgment is vacated as to those claims, and the case is remanded.”
💡 The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously agreed the alleged conduct was severe enough to constitute illegal racial discrimination.
QUOTE 11
Incidents targeted all Black workers
accountability
“these incidents – such as nooses, graffitied swastikas, and racist threats written on bathroom walls – by their very nature, targeted and preyed on all black employees in the Plant.”
💡 The court rejected the defense argument that only workers who personally witnessed each incident had valid claims.
QUOTE 12
Substantial encouragement definition
accountability
“To determine whether a defendant provided substantial encouragement or assistance, the Court considers ‘the nature of the act encouraged, the amount of assistance given by the defendant, his presence or absence at the time of the tort, his relation to the other[,] and his state of mind'”
💡 This establishes the legal standard for how companies can be held liable for aiding discrimination even without direct participation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What specific racist incidents occurred at the Harley-Davidson Kansas City plant?
Workers discovered multiple nooses including one in June or July 2017 and another in February 2019, a swastika and hanging doll of a Black woman in April 2018, and racist graffiti in January and February 2019 that included swastikas and phrases like ‘N****** die’ and ‘N****** go back to Africa.’ Management also physically divided the plant so Black Syncreon workers could not cross a line that white Harley workers could cross, and created functionally segregated bathrooms.
How did management respond when workers reported these incidents?
When a Black woman reported being assaulted in November 2018, HR threw her complaint in the trash and told the assailant to get back to work. When workers photographed racist graffiti in February 2019, Syncreon or Harley management ordered them to delete the photos. When a noose was discovered in February 2019, a manager ordered a supervisor to dispose of it and another employee witnessed the supervisor cutting it up. Management conducted no investigations and issued no discipline for any racially motivated incident.
Why were there two different companies employing workers at the same facility?
Harley-Davidson contracted with Syncreon to provide workers at the Kansas City plant. This created a two-tier workforce where approximately 90 percent of Syncreon employees were Black while the majority of Harley employees were white. Harley controlled operations and had the right to control Syncreon’s employment decisions, but used the contractor structure to create legal separation and plausible deniability for discrimination.
What happened to the workers after the plant closed?
Harley closed the Kansas City plant in May 2019, just days after workers filed discrimination charges. The closure eliminated hundreds of jobs and disproportionately affected Black workers, with Syncreon employees classified as temporary labor among the first to lose income, benefits, and healthcare. Public resources including unemployment insurance and social services had to subsidize the costs of the corporate closure.
Did the Missouri Supreme Court rule in favor of the workers?
Yes. In January 2024, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the workers’ allegations if taken as true establish the elements of a hostile work environment claim and aiding and abetting racial discrimination claims. The court vacated the circuit court’s dismissal and remanded the case for further proceedings. However, the workers still must continue fighting for accountability and no executives face criminal consequences.
How long did it take for workers to get their day in court?
Workers filed discrimination charges in May 2019. The circuit court dismissed their claims. They had to appeal to the Court of Appeals, then Harley and Syncreon transferred the case to the Missouri Supreme Court. The Supreme Court did not rule until January 2024, over four and a half years later, and the case was only remanded for further proceedings rather than resolved.
Why did the circuit court initially dismiss the workers’ claims?
The circuit court ruled that workers failed to allege they personally experienced the harassing conduct. The Missouri Supreme Court reversed this, clarifying that incidents like nooses, graffitied swastikas, and racist threats by their very nature targeted and preyed on all Black employees in the plant, not just those who personally witnessed each specific incident.
What does ‘aiding and abetting’ discrimination mean in this case?
The Missouri Supreme Court found that both Harley and Syncreon aided and abetted discrimination by providing substantial encouragement or assistance to create a hostile work environment. This included urging employees to stay quiet about incidents, discarding complaints, misleading workers about investigations, destroying evidence by ordering a noose to be disposed of, and ordering employees to delete photographic evidence of racist graffiti.
Is this lawsuit frivolous?
No. The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the allegations describe egregious racial discrimination with legal merit and moral gravity. The court’s decision affirms that claims involving nooses, swastikas, racist graffiti, physical segregation, and management cover-ups are far from frivolous and represent serious violations of civil rights law.
What can I do if I experience workplace discrimination?
Document everything including dates, times, witnesses, and specific incidents. Take photos if safe to do so and keep copies in a secure location outside of work. File a complaint with your state human rights commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Consult with an employment discrimination attorney who can advise you on your rights. Remember that it is illegal for employers to retaliate against workers who report discrimination.
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