Federal Jury Awards $6M to Former Merck Director in Race Discrimination Case

On November 21, 2025, a Black former IT director at Merck, Richard Davis, won a $6 million judgment after a Manhattan federal jury found that the company fired him because of his race. The verdict followed a five-day trial before Judge Vincent Briccetti in the Southern District of New York.

Davis filed suit in 2022 after being terminated shortly after directing an associate director to remove a White contractor from a project. Both the associate director, who carried out the removal, and the executive director, who learned about it but did not intervene, were White.

The contractor had complained about Davis the day before his removal, accusing him of yelling and making a comment he interpreted as favoring Black employees. Davis denied this, saying the contractor made the remark himself. Merck investigated, and claimed Davis violated policies related to cooperation during investigations and retaliation. The judge noted that key decision-makers were “surprised” by the investigator’s recommendation to fire him, and that similarly situated White colleagues were never investigated or disciplined.

Earlier this year, Judge Briccetti ruled that Davis had presented enough evidence of potential unequal treatment to proceed with trial. The court emphasized that employees do not need to have identical roles to be proper comparators in discrimination cases, but the proper analysis is whether they engaged in similar conduct and were subject to similar standards.

Here, the White associate director actually removed the contractor, and the White executive director knew of the removal within hours, yet neither faced investigation or discipline. A jury could reasonably view that difference in treatment as evidence of discrimination.

After hearing the testimony, including emotional-distress evidence from Davis’ wife and psychiatrist, the jury found that Merck fired Davis “on account of his race.” It awarded him $1 million in back pay; $2 million in front pay; $1 million in compensatory damages; and $2 million in punitive damages. Davis’ attorney noted that Merck “called a single witness” at trial who had no role in the termination decision. The large punitive damages award suggests the jury was “was outraged at the racial discrimination it found.”