A significant settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit concerning racial harassment at Waste Pro of Florida. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that Waste Pro of Florida has agreed to pay $1.4 million and implement comprehensive changes to resolve a lawsuit alleging race and national origin discrimination against Black and Haitian American workers.
The EEOC's lawsuit claimed that 26 Black and/or Haitian American employees were subjected to frequent and severe harassment. This included the use of racial slurs such as the "n-word," "boy," and "monkey," along with instructions to "go back to Haiti on the banana boat."
Beyond verbal abuse, the suit also alleged that Black employees were assigned to less desirable routes and trucks. A particularly disturbing incident involved management's refusal to remove a stuffed monkey carrying an American flag during an anti-discrimination training, despite an employee's plea. This employee had previously reported being called a "monkey" and told to "Go back to Haiti."
This alleged conduct is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The three-year settlement decree requires Waste Pro of Florida to:
Pay $1.4 million in monetary relief.
Provide specialized race discrimination training to its CEO and human resources employees.
Appoint an outside compliance officer to oversee investigations of race discrimination complaints across all Florida locations.
Provide bi-annual reports to the EEOC on discriminatory conduct and corrective measures.
Conduct exit interviews.
Draft a written, race-neutral seniority system for assigning trucks and routes.
Establish a centralized statewide discrimination complaint tracking system.
Comments
Post a Comment