Federal Judge Rules Against State Rep. Napoleon Bracy In Austal Discrimination Lawsuit

Mobile, AL (BuzzReport)— A federal judge has ruled against Alabama State Rep. Napoleon Bracy Jr. in his racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Austal USA, finding that the shipbuilding company was entitled to judgment on all of Bracy’s claims.

Bracy, a Democrat who represents Prichard and surrounding communities in the Alabama Legislature, previously worked as a supervisor at Austal USA before the company terminated his employment in 2024.

Bracy alleged that Austal discriminated against him because he is Black and retaliated against him after he unsuccessfully advocated for another Black employee to become the company’s director of human resources.

Chief U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock rejected Bracy’s claims, determining that the evidence presented did not establish that his termination was motivated by racial discrimination or retaliation.

The court also rejected Bracy’s argument that Austal’s stated reason for terminating him was merely a pretext for discrimination. Austal maintained that Bracy improperly used the company’s timekeeping system to record time away from work for legislative-related activities.

A central issue in the case involved Bracy’s use of the company’s designated jury-duty code to record time he spent performing what he described as constituent-related legislative duties while the Alabama Legislature was not in session.

Bracy maintained that those activities were part of what he considered constituent week and that supervisors had previously instructed him to use the jury-duty designation when recording the time.

The court found that Bracy’s explanation did not overcome the company’s stated reason for his termination. The judge noted that Bracy had previously used the same method to record time but had provided descriptions of his activities, while the entry at issue did not accurately identify the work he was performing.

The judge also considered Bracy’s argument that other Black employees had been terminated by Austal and that those terminations supported a broader pattern of racial discrimination.

The court found that Bracy had not provided enough information about those employees, including the circumstances surrounding their terminations, who made the decisions, when the terminations occurred and the reasons given by the company.

Without that information, the court determined that connecting those employee terminations to Bracy’s case would be speculative.

The ruling represents a significant legal setback for Bracy, who remains an elected member of the Alabama House of Representatives representing constituents in the Prichard area.

The federal court’s decision resolves Bracy’s claims against Austal in favor of the company.