A Pittsburgh call center employer has been accused of extreme racist behavior toward Black employees. Diane Allen served as a director at Allegheny Health Network when she allegedly used extremely racist language and sought to fire Black employees after referring to them as ‘monkeys’. In addition to the alleged discrimination, she made derogatory remarks by calling Black workers “good blacks and not n*****”.
It all started when another Black employee, Santos Albert, was hired as a supervisor in the company in January 2017. Since then, Allen had allegedly directed unprofessional and derogatory remarks at him. Based on statements by plaintiffs, Allen mocked Santos for shopping at Walmart and K-Mart, calling it a ghetto.
Another alleged incident involved Allen holding up a picture of a female employee’s Black husband and then attacking him with racial comments. She even stated, “Look at this garbage, I thought she was a nice girl. He’s going to bring her down.”
“‘Getting Those Monkeys in Line’: Racist Manager Allegedly Sought to Fire All Black Employees at a Pittsburgh Call Center — Now She Must Answer to a Jury” – Atlanta Black Star #SmartNews https://t.co/BM5UF8yv2j
— Nazim Abdul-Latif (@goldeinmind) March 2, 2026
During her tenure, Allen purposely rejected Black job applicants allegedly identified based solely on their names. She tore up the resumes of such candidates while keeping aside those of white applicants. Later, when supervisor Santos Albert asked about her progress in the operations role, Allen reportedly commented that she was doing everything required to “get those monkeys in line”.
That’s not all. Apart from having extremely objectionable racist behavior towards every employee, it was in April 2018 when she allegedly planned to fire all Black workers in the organization. It was John Guthrie who intercepted the matter, claiming that it was not right to do so.
Later in his testimony, Santos Albert, who is Black, revealed that in 2019 Allen had forced him to attend 6 a.m. orthopedic meetings, oversee assignments that were not required, despite the fact that he lacked the required training for that kind of work. He stated that these changes were purposely designed so that he would fail and Diane could have him terminated.
Fast forward to now, Federal Judge Mark R. Hornak has ruled discrimination lawsuit against Allegheny Health Network to proceed. He has cited strong evidence of racial bigotry and pervasive harassment. An additional internal investigation has discovered that Allen was terminated from her position in 2019, based on her racial behavior.
Moreover, both Santos Albert and John Guthrie alleged that instances of continued racial discrimination were present in the organization even after Allen’s firing. The new techniques included unfair performance plans and wrongful terminations. Surprisingly, Allegheny Health Network has denied any discrimination and retaliation efforts within the organization.
They have instead highlighted Diane Allen’s initial hiring and promotion of Santos Albert, adding that claims of terminations were rather for legitimate business reasons. As a result, Judge Hornak has now emphasized the credibility of facts and claims disputes, and they are now for the judge to decide.
The ongoing case has a scheduled conference next on September 2. It will now proceed to a jury trial where the contesting facts and figures will be re-evaluated. Meanwhile, public scrutiny of AHN’s workplace culture has intensified. It has prompted sudden policy changes and racism training, along with increased accountability measures.
