Supervisor obstruction of protected discrimination report
Company: Riot
The claim, verbatim
After the plaintiff reported the racial slur to HR, supervisor Rusty Knight pulled him aside and made inconsistent statements attempting to serve as a character witness for the accused coworker, suggesting the slur was actually the word 'Megger' (a tool name).
Source (primary)
Howell v. Riot Platforms Inc — Entry #1: COMPLAINT WITH JURY DEMAND against All Defendants filed by Coronet Howell (RECAP (purchased via PACER), court_filing)
View cached copy (2026-09-26)Live source ↗
Quote: “Upon hearing the racial slur, Mr. Howell immediately reported the incident to human resources (HR). The same week as reporting the racial slur to HR, Mr. Knight pulls Mr. Howell aside for a 'one v. one' conversation that took place at the work site. During this discussion it is alleged that Mr. Knight was attempting to essentially serve as a character witness for Jacob Conkel, explaining that 'he would never say something like that' and claiming that it wasn't the 'N-word' but rather 'Megger'”
How we checked this
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Additional evidence
confirms Howell v. Riot Platforms Inc — Entry #1: COMPLAINT WITH JURY DEMAND against All Defendants filed by Coronet Howell
Quote: “Upon hearing the racial slur, Mr. Howell immediately reported the incident to human resources (HR). The same week as reporting the racial slur to HR, Mr. Knight pulls Mr. Howell aside for a 'one v. one' conversation that took place at the work site. During this discussion it is alleged that Mr. Knight was attempting to essentially serve as a character witness for Jacob Conkel, explaining that 'he would never say something like that' and claiming that it wasn't the 'N-word' but rather 'Megger'”