FLORIDA CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES SUED FOR RACIAL HARASSMENT, THREATENING BLACK WORKER WITH NOOSE

EEOC Says Crom Companies Subjected African Americans to Racial Insults, Physical Abuse

MIAMI – The Crom Corporation and Crom  Equip­ment Rentals violated federal law when they allowed the racial harassment  of black employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged  in a lawsuit announced today. The EEOC  also says the Florida-based construction companies unlawfully suspended an  African American employee for complaining about severe racial insults, threats  and physical abuse.

According to the suit, a white employee at Crom’s  Holly Hill, Fla., location locked a black coworker in a tool shed and then  spray-painted the shed door with the word “Jail.” The EEOC said that the same white employee also  put a hangman’s noose around the black employee’s neck, hung the noose in his  work area, and threatened to decapitate him.  Another African American employee was offended when he saw the noose  hanging at the Holly Hill site. Crom was aware of the harassment but didn’t  stop it, according to the suit. Instead,  the EEOC said, Crom suspended the black worker after he complained about the  noose and rewarded the white offender with a higher-paying position.

“It is shocking and sobering that such cruelty can  still occur at an American workplace,” said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J.  Ishimaru. “The EEOC will not falter in  its quest to put an end to such injustice.”

Racial harassment violates Title VII  of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The  EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida (EEOC v. The Crom Corporation, Case No.  1:09-cv-00128-SPM-AK) after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.

EEOC Miami District Director  Jacqueline McNair said, “Even in 2009, nooses still make their way into work  environments. The EEOC will vigorously prosecute cases with this sort of workplace  terror.”
 
        EEOC  Miami Regional Attorney Nora E. Curtin, added, “The nightmarish abuse  endured in this case is appalling. The  hangman's noose is a haunting symbol of racial hatred and must never be  tolerated. Employers must take swift and  meaningful action to punish those responsible for such outrageous conduct.”

Crom Corporation and Crom Equipment Rentals sell  concrete water tanks and scaffolding and operate throughout Florida and in at least nine other  states.

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