Contractor JA Croson, a plumbing and HVAC contractor in Sorrento, Florida, has agreed to pay $1.6 million to 17 former black and Hispanic employees in Florida to settle the charges that he subjected them to to insults and deliberately humiliating treatment.
In its lawsuit against the company, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged that managers made job assignments based on race and national origin.
“These racial and ethnic slurs were used by various managers in the open, available to managerial and non-managerial employees,” EEOC charged in an amended complaint filed in federal court in Ocala, Florida.
the agency claimed that managers delegated the more difficult digging and hauling tasks to black workers, with sSome racist comments were also allegedly made outside the workplace.
When two former black employees complained about their treatment, they were fired, the EEOC charged.
In the consent decree to settle the charges, JA Croson denied that he was responsible and that he had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by allowing a hostile work environment to exist. But, the company said, it is “JA Croson’s position that settlements are favored over continued, costly and uncertain litigation.”
EEOC has made a priority of eliminating discrimination in construction work Few cases reach the full trial stage. When they do, the damages received by victims are often small and far from life-changing.
JA Croson’s settlement is in the form of a three-year consent decree under which the contractor must designate an employee relations hotline for complaints, assign a complaint investigator and provide training to its employees on the recognition of workplace harassment. The company will also conduct surveys and audits of the work environment to ensure that race and national origin do not play a role in the delegation of work tasks.
The suit charge date until 2022. In its initial response, JA Croson denied many of the allegations of a hostile work environment, maintained that it had policies in place to prevent discrimination and made good faith efforts to avoid any harassment or retaliation.
The employment decisions “were based on legitimate, non-discriminatory and non-retaliatory grounds unrelated to the claimant’s race or national origin,” the company said.
The EEOC has filed similar discrimination lawsuits pending in federal court against other construction employers. Legal experts say employers are much less vulnerable legally if no manager uses racial slurs or allows or participates in creating a hostile work environment. The agency maintains that there should be a system for reporting complaints and any complaints should be investigated promptly.
