A federal district court judge in Georgia has dismissed racial discrimination charges filed against celebrity chef Paula Deen by a white restaurant manager, stating federal discrimination law is not applicable.

Monday's ruling by Judge William T. Moore Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in Savannah in Lisa T. Jackson v. Paula Deen et al. also dismissed racial discrimination charges against Ms. Deen's brother, co-defendant Earl W. Hiers, but did not rule as yet on sexual harassment charges Ms. Jackson also filed against Mr. Hiers.

The case has drawn wide publicity because of Ms. Deen's acknowledgement during a deposition in the case that she had used a racial epithet to refer to black people. It has led to the cancellation of her cooking show, among other repercussions.

Ms. Jackson, who was a general manager in a restaurant owned by Ms. Deen and Mr. Hiers, said Mr. Hiers had repeatedly made racist jokes and “she was personally offended by the constant racist jokes and statement because she has biracial nieces,” according to the ruling.

Ms. Jackson, however, “is not an aggrieved party under Title VII (of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) because her interests are not those arguably sought to be protected by that statute," said the ruling. “At best, plaintiff is an accidental victim of the alleged racial discrimination. There are no allegations that Defendant Hiers's racially offensive comments were either directed toward plaintiff, or made with the intent to harass her.

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“Instead, plaintiff contends that she suffered injury because Defendants deprived her of ‘harmonious working relationships with her African-American subordinates’ and denied her ‘the right to work free from racial harassment.’ Those, however, are not interests sought to be protected by Title VII,” said the ruling.

“Even setting aside the absurd results that could follow from allowing such a claim, to use Title VII in this manner would serve to conscript federal courts as human resources departments that are responsible for imposing and monitoring a federally created standard for harmony in the workplace,” said the ruling, also. “Quite simply, workplace harmony is not an interest sought to be protected by Title VII.”