AGREES TO PAY $500K TO RESOLVE RACE AND NATIONAL ORIGIN CLAIMS
In late December, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it had settled a lawsuit which it had filed against Schuff Steele Company back in September of 2022.
The company is alleged to have allowed the “harassment” of Black and Latino employees. Among other things, a plant manager (out in Elroy, Arizona) is said to have “regularly used racial slurs and epithets against Black and Latino employees, including using the N-word, and calling Latino employees ‘beaners.’” Of course, those who complained about the mistreatment were subjected to termination or reassigned to a less favorable shift.
After attempting to settle the matter, the EEOC filed its suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona (EEOC v. Schuff Steel Company, Case No. 2:22-cv-01653-JJT) seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.
In addition to a monetary payment of $500,000 to the impacted individuals, Schuff has agreed to modify its employment-related policies and practices.
In a written statement, Regional Attorney Mary Jo O’Neill, of the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office, noted that “Employees—no matter what industry they work in, their racial background, or their national origin—have the right to work in an environment free of harassment and discrimination and without the threat of being fired or retaliated against for complaining about the harassment …. No person should ever have to work in such a racist and hostile work environment in order to make a living to support their families. And it is particularly troublesome that this behavior was done by a manager in this case.”
Think that settlement is as strong as steel?
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