On July 1, 2005, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The EEOC sued four private corporations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The complaint asked the court for a permanent injunction and damages, including back pay and other monetary compensation.
Suing on behalf of three named black employees and all others similarly situated, the EEOC claimed that defendants had allowed black employees at a Pennsylvania construction project to be subjected to egregious and sustained racial harassment, creating a racially hostile work environment. The EEOC alleged that despite being aware of the situation, the defendants failed to take any remedy the situation. Specifically, the four black individuals named in the suit worked on a construction site outside of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as employees of the defendant construction companies. The employees alleged that they were subjected to a racially hostile work environment, including: (1) Racist graffiti on the walls of the portable toilets (including comments such as "n----- trash mother f--ker", "who let that dirty n----- into local 36", "sieg heil," and "KKK"); (2) Racially offensive comments made by foreman, including "black people are no good and you cannot trust them"; (3) A hangman's noose in the work area. The employees alleged that despite the fact that defendants had notice of such incidents and treatment, they failed to take any remedial action.
On October 13, 2005, the court (Judge Gene E.K. Pratter) consolidated four individual suits (filed by the three employees mentioned above and another employee) into this litigation by the EEOC. On May 25, 2006, the court dismissed the fourth employee's claims for failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. 2006 WL 1451527. However, on July 21, 2006, Judge Pratter granted that same plaintiff's motion to intervene.
On August 9, 2006, the case was transferred to the Hon. Thomas M. Golden.
Through 2006, 2007 and into early 2008, the case continued to move to trial, with Judge Golden denying various parties' motions for summary judgment and entertaining other pretrial motions. On July 24, 2007, however, the court granted summary judgment to defendants Ironworkers Local Union 36 and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 375. One of the plaintiffs had sued these unions as part of his separate suit stemming from the incidents at the construction site -- a suit that was consolidated with the EEOC suit against all of the workplace defendants noted above. In granting the motion, the court noted that a labor union may only be held liable under Title VII if the Union itself instigated or actively supported the discrimination or if it refuses grievances. Further, labor unions do not have an affirmative duty to investigate and take steps to alleviate discrimination on the part of employers.
The employee-plaintiff later appealed, but then withdrew the appeal when the matter settled.
Apparently the parties reached an agreement on money, but not injunctive relief, because on February 19, 2008, Judge Golden entered an order that the case was "dismissed without prejudice so that the parties can resolve the non-monetary aspects of the litigation." Notwithstanding this purported dismissal, on May 8, 2008, the court approved separate consent decrees between the EEOC and the four defendants. The court retained jurisdiction over the consent decrees, which were set to last for four years. The defendants agreed to pay, in total, $1,650,000 to the employees. The also agreed to develop and implement a written policy prohibiting racial discrimination and unlawful harassment and retaliation against their employees. Additionally, the defendants agreed to implement complaint procedures and to provide for prompt investigation of all complaints of harassment. They also agreed to do a Title VII training for management.
The four years have passed, so the case is presumably closed.
Greg Margolis - 02/10/2017
compress summary
