On July 1, 2005, several employees who worked at ConectIv and three sub-contractors filed a class-action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Plaintiffs sued ConectIv under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically Title VII, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Plaintiffs represented by private attorneys sought monetary damages and injunctive relief to redress their racial discrimination claims. On October 13, 2005, the case was transferred to a new docket (No. 2:05-cv-03389) with the EEOC filing a suit on plaintiff’s behalf. The case assigned to Judge Thomas M. Golden.

The agency alleged that defendants ignored almost constant harassment of plaintiffs. In one instance, black employees discovered the n-word graffitied on the work site bathrooms and alleged that defendant’s foremen did nothing to address the incident after being told. In another instance, the agency alleged that worksite supervisors used the n-word when referring to a black employee. In a third instance, the agency alleged that a hangman’s noose was found hanging from a beam in a black employee’s work area and when employee complained, a supervisor said he “thought the hangman’s noose was funny.”

On May 8, 2008, the EEOC entered into four consent decrees, one for each defendant company. The consent decrees required defendants to pay a sum of $1,650,000 to plaintiffs. The consent decrees required each defendant to do notice posting of the consent agreement. The consent decrees further required each defendant to draft and publish anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, and anti-retaliation policies in plain language in both English and Spanish. Additionally, they mandated that each defendant must institute supervisor and foreman accountability practices for how to respond to future issues. After the four-year period, this decree terminated in 2012.

Raul Noguera-McElroy - 04/05/2019


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