But what about a worker who calls himself the N-word?
That was the question Syracuse officials had to decide in the case of Todd Gordon, a black Department of Public Works employee. The city chose to fire him.
Gordon was working as a street repairman in the city's Department of Public Works in October when another worker objected to their job assignments.
The other worker, Ed Firnstein, went into a supervisor's office to complain that he should have been assigned a roller truck instead of a dump truck, Gordon said. Firnstein, who's white, wanted to switch assignments with Gordon, who had less time on the job.
Gordon went in the office and objected. Firnstein called him a "f------ punk," according to Gordon.
"You know what, man? I'm tired of this. You don't like working with (N-words) like me," Gordon responded.
Four months later, the city fired him for using the racial slur.