Asphalt Paving Systems Inc. reached a settlement of racial bias charges brought by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of black employees who claim they were subjected to deliberately humiliating treatment and racial epithets.
According to the consent decree agreed to by the company and the EEOC, the contractor will pay a fine of $1.25 million and provide specialized racial discrimination training to human resources officials and managers, appoint an outside monitor to review racial harassment complaints, and provide the EEOC with reports of harassment complaints.
In an October civil complaint filed in federal court in Tampa, the agency claimed that 12 black employees of tthe tampa area unit of the Company based in Hammonton, NJ were subjected to a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII of the federal civil rights law.
According to the complaint, a black paving crew working alongside or in close proximity to white crews was, among other abuses, subjected to frequent racial slurs by supervisors and other employees, exposed to a Confederate flag, and give worse work assignments with longer commutes than others. crew members.
The complaint also alleges that the company prevented the black paving crew members from finding other employment by contacting a prospective employer and asking him not to hire them.
EEOC has targeted construction industry employers as chronic violators of laws that protect employees from racial and sexual harassment and discrimination. The day before announcing its settlement with Asphalt Paving Systems, EEOC announced that it had reached a similar consent decree and payment of a fine of 1.6 million dollars with specialist contractor JA Croson. Charges against other construction contractors have been resolved or are pending.
