Manufacturer Terminated Employee for Complaining About Race Discrimination, Federal Agency Charged

Desco Industries, Inc., a California corporation doing business in Sanford, N.C., will pay $45,000 to settle a workplace retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency recently announced. The EEOC charged that Desco Industries violated federal law when it discharged Daniel Worthy in retaliation for complaining about race discrimination.

According to the EEOC's complaint, Daniel Worthy worked for Desco in 2015 through a third-party staffing agency. Around February 2015, Worthy discussed his interest in a forklift position with Desco's warehouse foreman. Based on their discussion, Worthy expected he was in line for the next open forklift position. When Worthy, who is black, later saw a non-black employee operating a fork­lift, he believed Desco had passed him over for the position because of his race. Worthy com­plained to the staffing agency recruiter who notified Desco of Worthy's race discrimination complaint. Within days of learning about Worthy's complaint, Desco fired Worthy in retaliation for complaining about discrimination.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from terminating someone who reports race discrimination or other employment practices which he or she reasonably believes violate Title VII. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Desco Industries, Inc., Civil Action No 1:16-CV-00858) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through the agency's conciliation process.

In addition to providing monetary relief to Worthy, a two-year consent decree requires Desco to develop and implement an anti-retaliation policy and to conduct annual training for supervisors and managers on Title VII's prohibition against retaliation. Desco Industries must also post an employee notice about the lawsuit and provide periodic reports to the EEOC.

"Federal law protects those who come forward to report suspected employment discrimin­a­tion," said Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney for the EEOC's Charlotte District Office. "The EEOC stands ready to enforce those protections."

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.