EEOC: Tough-Talking Racist Boss In Texas Costs Company $200,000

A superintendent at a Texas metal manufacturing plant who was racist and not afraid to show it, cost his company $200,000, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC.)

A federal jury awarded $200,000 in punitive damages yesterday to three former employees of AA Foundries in a racial harassment lawsuit filed by EEOC.

David Lopez, EEOC general counsel

The EEOC’s lawsuit charged AA Foundries, Inc., San Antonio, Texas, manufacturer of metal castings and producer of foundry mold machines, with racially harassing African-Americans.

One African-American employee testified at trial that he filed an EEOC complaint because he wanted his children to learn not to be prejudiced against others nor for others to be prejudiced against them in the workplace.

AA Foundries superintendent, the top plant official, not only used the “N” word himself, but admitted that it did not bother him that derogatory racial slurs were commonly heard in the workplace.

The superintendent also called adult African-American male employees “mother-f—g boys,” posted racially-tinged written material in the break room and routinely referring to them as “you people.” He accused African-Americans of always stealing and wanting welfare.

After several employees filed racial harassment charges with the EEOC, a noose was displayed at the AA Foundries workplace.

When employees complained the noose, the superintendent said the complaints were “BS.” The superintendent said noose “was no big deal” and that “you people are too sensitive.”

Racist conduct constitutes a hostile work environment, a form of race-based discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

EEOC Files Suit

The EEOC filed suit (Civil Action Number 5:11-cv-792, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division) after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.

“Whenever necessary, the EEOC will take cases into the courts across our nation to ensure the eradication of discriminatory workplace conduct. This is the latest in a number of successful cases the Commission has taken to trial this year,” said David Lopez, EEOC general counsel.

“The jury’s verdict in this case upholds the public interest and will benefit all employees at AA Foundries,” said Eduardo Juarez, EEOC senior trial attorney in San Antonio. “Employers must take measures to prevent racial harassment and to properly respond to any type of complaint of discrimination. Management officials, in particular, must act promptly to stop and remedy discrimination-not be the instigators of harassment themselves.”

Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov