“Get Out – We’re Having a Klan Meeting!”
Seems that I almost can’t keep up with the number of racial harassment cases in the news these days. I just did a post about nooses and the N-word … and now a new one with similar – but more – epithets and threats.
The EEOC just announced that it sued an Arizona moving company for hostile work environment based upon allegations made about a supervisor’s outrageous comments.
It was alleged that he frequently used comments such as “white power,” “if you’re not white, you’re not right,” as well as that old standby – the N-word – when referring to an employee.
He also told a black employee to “get out of a room because they were having a Klan meeting.”
And to top it off, it was alleged that “a troll doll was painted black, a Post-it was affixed to the troll doll, which read [the name of the black employee] and the doll was hung in the middle of the facility.”
The employee complained within the company about the troll doll, but no action was taken.
Said an EEOC attorney: “We are particularly concerned that he was subjected to language and conduct by his supervisors that attempts to assert white superiority over African-Americans. Employers and supervisors have a legal duty to create a safe workplace environment for their employees.”
Takeaway: No action was taken by the employer.
Unbelievable.
As the EEOC attorney said: “Employers and supervisors have a legal duty to create a safe workplace environment for their employees.”