CITY CONCRETE SUED BY EEOC FOR AGE AND NATIONAL ORIGIN DISCRIMINATION, HARASSMENT, RETALIATION

Concrete Company Refused to Consider Older Asian Worker for Sales Job and Punished Him for Complaining, Federal Agency Charges

MEMPHIS  – The Memphis  unit of a Houston-based concrete supplier violated federal law by refusing to  place a worker into a sales job because of his national origin, Asian, and age,  subjecting him to harassment and retaliating against him for opposing that  unlawful conduct, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)  charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

According to the EEOC’s suit, Civil  Action No. 2:09-cv-02208, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District  of Tennessee at Memphis, City  Concrete failed to placed David Piyavunno into a sales position because of his  age and national origin, Asian. A young  white male was offered the sales position instead of Piyavunno. The EEOC said company officials wanted a  young work force and believed that customers would not want to do business with  an Asian. Company officials also allowed  its managers to subject Piyavunno to harassment. Further, the EEOC said the company failed to  properly investigate the complaint about this misconduct, and after Piyavunno  complained, he was forced to quit.

This alleged conduct violates Title  VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment decisions and  harassment based on national origin and retaliation against those who complain  about it. The alleged conduct also  violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to  reach a voluntary settlement. The  lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction prohibiting such discrimination  in the future, and to order City Concrete to pay David Piyavunno any salary he  lost as a result of the discrimination, interest on the lost pay, compensatory  damages for emotional and psychological harm, and any other damages.

“In this case, the company  officials refused to give Mr. Piyavunno an opportunity because of his national  origin and allowed others to harass him because of it,” said Katharine Kores,  the EEOC’s Memphis  district director. “Then the company  made the situation worse by punishing him when he complained and filed an EEOC  charge. All of this is unlawful under  federal law, and the EEOC takes a special interest in incidents where the  company retaliates against a discrimin­ation victim.”
  City  Concrete, the Memphis business unit of U.S.  Concrete, based in Houston,  Texas, is a supplier of  ready-mixed concrete and concrete products.  The Memphis  unit employs approxim­ately 168 people.

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment  discrimination. Further information about  the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.