Hertz's fix for the manager and the locked-out worker was the same: professionalism coaching
A Hertz employee alleges his manager locked him out of the office while he desperately needed the restroom - leaving him to soil himself at work.
The federal complaint, filed September 22, 2026 in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, names The Hertz Corporation, its subsidiary Hertz Local Edition Corp., and two managers as defendants. The worker alleges race discrimination, a hostile work environment driven by race, and retaliation under federal and New Jersey anti-discrimination laws.
The worker, who is Black, has been a part-time vehicle transporter at Hertz's Morristown, New Jersey location since September 2019. His job is moving cars between locations. According to the complaint, he has never been disciplined for his performance.
The filing describes years of different treatment.
His branch manager and area manager, both alleged to be white, allegedly singled him out in ways they did not impose on white colleagues. The area manager allegedly ordered the worker to fetch and valet his personal vehicles and, on at least one occasion, carry his luggage. The branch manager allegedly called the worker to the front office to reprimand and yell at him in front of customers.
On one occasion, the complaint alleges, the branch manager had the worker take company photographs but would not let him appear in them.
Then there was the employee rental discount.
Hertz gives staff discounted vehicle rentals. In November 2024, the complaint alleges, the area manager emailed an employee at another Hertz location and directed her to void the worker's discount and charge the full rate. The worker's rental charge allegedly jumped from $257.75 to more than $400. Human resources refunded the overcharge after the worker complained.
But the problems did not stop there. According to the filing, the area manager told colleagues at two locations that human resources had prohibited the worker from renting at other branches - and that the worker had been told so. The complaint alleges no such conversation had taken place, and the statement created a false impression the worker was knowingly breaking company policy.
In front of other employees, the complaint alleges, the area manager told the worker, "I fire people all the time for renting cars." When the worker said he had emailed human resources about the false statements, the area manager allegedly laughed at him.
The complaint alleges the worker could not use his employee discount from roughly the fall of 2024 until 2026.
The restroom incident came on May 2, 2025.
According to the filing, the worker returned to the Morristown location at about 1:50 p.m. after picking up a vehicle from the airport and needed the restroom. The office door was locked. When the branch manager opened it and saw the worker approaching, the complaint alleges, he locked it again.
Knowing the worker needed the restroom, the manager allegedly refused to let him into the office and said he would be right back. He was gone about 20 minutes. The worker could not wait.
He soiled himself at work.
When the branch manager returned and the worker asked why he had done this, the complaint alleges the manager responded, "So what." According to the filing, the manager said he did not care that the worker needed the bathroom and told him to find somewhere else - like the hotel in the same building - to use one. When the worker reminded the manager he was a Hertz employee, the response, according to the complaint, was again "so what."
The worker went to clean himself, then emailed human resources twice, reporting what the complaint describes as "disgusting and racist behavior . . . that has been going on for years."
What happened next moved quickly.
According to the filing, about 10 minutes after those emails, the branch manager came to the back room and told the worker to transport a vehicle to another location. When the worker asked the manager not to speak to him or treat him that way, the manager allegedly escalated - yelling and cursing at him in front of a witness.
The complaint alleges the branch manager told the worker: "give me the keys I'll clock you out AND DON'T COME BACK." The worker clocked out and left at about 2:15 p.m.
How Hertz's human resources handled things forms a significant thread in the complaint.
An HR business partner called the worker minutes after he left, the filing states, but a senior HR business partner did not contact him until May 6. On May 8, 2025, he was told the investigation was wrapping up, that results could not be shared, and that he should come back to work because he had not been fired. He was told a general manager would visit the branch to speak with employees. According to the complaint, that visit never happened.
The complaint alleges Hertz admitted the branch manager used profanity toward the worker on May 2, 2025, and that the manager sent him home. Hertz's response, according to the filing, was to give the manager "coaching regarding professionalism" and conflict de-escalation training.
No discipline followed.
The worker was also coached - on professionalism in the workplace. The man who had been locked out.
Hertz declared the worker's race discrimination complaints "unsubstantiated," the filing states, and told the EEOC its fixes had "proven effective."
The complaint alleges retaliation continued after the worker filed complaints with both the EEOC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to the filing, the HR contact who had taken the worker's complaints stopped responding to his emails. In August 2025, the branch manager allegedly sent the worker to another location for an oil change, then contacted an employee there - the same employee the area manager had previously directed to overcharge the worker - to keep an eye on him and report when he left.
The complaint also raises concerns about the worker's Hertz Gold Rewards account. In March 2026, the area manager allegedly offered to restore the worker's discount and asked for his account number. According to the filing, someone with access to Hertz's systems then accessed the worker's rewards account and a family member's account without authorization, adding the worker's debit card to the family member's account without consent.
When the worker raised the issue, the area manager allegedly said there were no cards linked to his profile. The complaint alleges three cards were on file.
In May 2026, the worker submitted a formal complaint to an HR director reporting unauthorized account access and ongoing retaliation. The complaint alleges the director responded that he had found "an issue with one of our internal systems" affecting stored credit card information, and that the discrimination claim could not be substantiated. The filing states the rest of the worker's complaint was never addressed.
The filing also alleges that around December 2025, three Black employees at the Morristown location resigned and a fourth requested a transfer because of how Black employees were treated by the two managers and staff acting with their approval.
The worker remains employed at Hertz. He is seeking damages, an order requiring Hertz to stop the alleged discrimination and retaliation, and equal access to his employee discount. The EEOC issued a formal determination on the worker's charge on June 23, 2026.
For HR teams, the complaint puts a sharp lens on what happens when an internal investigation wraps up with coaching for both the accused supervisor and the employee who reported the conduct - and the employee then takes the matter to a federal courtroom.
The allegations in the complaint have not been tested, and no court has made any findings or rulings on the merits.
