Noose in ASPCA garage rattles worker

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QUEENS, N.Y., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- An employee of an animal rescue facility in New York says supervisors at the non-profit brushed off her concerns after she saw a noose hanging in the garage.

Sanoy Flemming, who works part-time in the records department of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said she was shocked when she spotted the hanging rope in the garage earlier this month, the Daily News reported Monday.

Flemming, who is black, said a colleague told her the noose had been hanging there for several weeks and was tied there by a white employee.

"I explained to my supervisor that nooses were used to hang slaves, and I explained how insulting that is to African-Americans," Fleming told the Daily News. Fleming said she then received a call from human resources, who said her work was "not up to par" and then told her the rope in the garage was used "for 'operational purposes' to lift things," Fleming told the newspaper.

She said she has hired an attorney to protect her from retaliation.

An ASPCA spokeswoman said the charity "takes employee complaints very seriously and has a very strict policy against any form of workplace retaliation."

Fleming said the worker who tied the noose was told not to tie that type of knot again.