six engineers. Iwekaogwu was the first African-American to join the structural design section of the harbor department.
During Iwekaogwu's interview with the harbor department, one of the interviewers asked him whether he had ever been harassed on the job before. The interviewer told Iwekaogwu that he should "get prepared because there [are] a lot of them in the Harbor Department."
After Iwekaogwu was hired, Max Weismair was his immediate supervisor. At the end of 1990 Weismair gave Iwekaogwu an evaluation, giving him the highest possible rating in all categories. The evaluation also was signed by Larry Anderson, Weismair's supervisor.
Iwekaogwu took and passed an examination to become a civil engineer associate. When the list of those who had passed the examination was published in 1991, Iwekaogwu approached Weismair about a promotionto the position of civil engineer associate. Weismair told Iwekaogwu that he would discuss the issue with Larry Anderson. Later Weismair told Iwekaogwu that Anderson had said that the harbor department was not a place for Iwekaogwu to continue his professional career and that if he needed any promotional opportunity he should seek it elsewhere. As of that time Iwekaogwu had not had any professional contact with Anderson.
After this incident, in a conversation with Doug Thiessen in 1991, Iwekaogwu threatened to file a race discrimination action against the harbor department. Thiessen at that time was not a member of the structural design section of the harbor department. However, Iwekaogwu testified that Thiessen went to Adam Birkenbach and Vernon Hall to discuss the matter.[1] Birkenbach was Anderson's supervisor and