California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Spikener v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., A154689 (Cal. App. 2020):
19. The trial court's conclusion that the meaning of what it called the "slang term" of " 'nigga' " was "debatable" was the beginning, not the end of the inquiry. If it was debatable, it was for the jury to decide, including based on the context of the term's use. (See, e.g., Rodgers v. Western-Southern Life Ins. Co. (7th Cir. 2000) 12 F.3d 668, 675 ["[t]he fact that black employees also may have spoken the term 'nigger' does not mitigate the harm caused by [the supervisor's] use of that epithet; a supervisor's use of the term impacts the work environment far more severely than use by co-equals"].)
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