Race Bias Suit Produces $1.25M Payout: What Happened?

The EEOC announced that an employer it targeted in a race bias suit will pay $1.25 million and take other significant steps to end the litigation.

The defendant in the race bias suit was Asphalt Paving Systems, Inc., which is an asphalt paving company that has offices in Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Tennessee.

The agency accused the employer of subjecting 12 Black former employees and a class of other Black employees to severe and frequent harassment based on their race.

‘Degrading and Humiliating’

According to the agency’s race bias suit, the victims were made to work in “degrading and humiliating conditions,” including being forced to:

• work in the rain while white workers watched, and
• relieve themselves outdoors while white employees were given access to indoor restroom facilities.

The agency further alleged that Black employees were subjected to racial slurs and epithets.

Managers With Guns

In addition, it said in the race bias suit that the Black employees were subjected to physically threatening conduct by others. According to the agency, managers and supervisors brought guns to worksites and once reached for a gun.

There were witnesses and complainants about the alleged misconduct, the agency alleged, but nothing was done to stop it.

The suit alleged violations of Title VII, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race.

To end the race bias suit, the parties entered into a three-year decree that calls for the provision of several forms of relief.

Big Payout in Race Bias Suit

First, the employer will pay $1.25 million in monetary relief.

Second, it will provide training regarding illegal race discrimination to its human resources officers and managers.

The employer further agreed to appoint an outside monitor who will review race harassment complaints and provide the EEOC with reports relating to such complaints and the employer’s response to them.

“This case underscores the urgent need for the EEOC’s ongoing efforts to eliminate racism in the construction industry,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows in a release.  “The EEOC will continue to use all its tools—including vigorous enforcement and litigation where necessary—to address these systemic problems and promote safe and inclusive workplaces for all.”

What Is Illegal Race Harassment?

The EEOC has separately explained that racial harassment is “unwelcome conduct that unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.”

Here are some examples of harassing conduct that may violate Title VII:

• Offensive jokes
• Slurs
• Epithets
• Name-calling
• Physical assaults
• Physical threats
• Intimidation
• Ridicule
• Mockery
• Insults
• Put-downs
• Offensive objects
• Offensive pictures
• Interference with work performance.

Isolated incidents usually do not create an illegally hostile work environment, but even a single incident may do so if it is sufficiently severe.

Avoiding Race Bias Issues

To help prevent racial harassment in the workplace, employers must clearly communicate to their employees that racial harassment in any form is strictly prohibited and that violators will be disciplined appropriately.

Other specific preventative steps for employers to take to prevent race harassment in the workplace include the following:

• Adopt policies and procedures for addressing complaints of race harassment.
• Train managers on how to properly recognize when harassment is occurring in the workplace and on how to respond in an effective manner.

Of course, it is illegal to retaliate against an employee in response to their report of alleged harassment and to retaliate against anyone because they participated in an investigation regarding the allegations.

If a supervisor engaged in harassment, their employer can be held liable for the harassment if they did not act properly to prevent or correct it, or if the harassment produced a tangible job action, such as termination.

If the perpetrator is a co-worker or non-employee, on the other hand, the employer can be held liable if it knew or should have known about the harassment and did not take proper corrective action to stop it.