Conectiv has to pay out $1.65 million for Racial Harassment

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

On one hand I just get sick of reading things like this - on the other - I'm glad companies like Conectiv and their sub-contractors, which include Matrix Services Industrial Contractors, Steel Suppliers Erectors, Inc. and A.C. Dellovade, Inc. have to pay out close to 2 million for their threatening racist acts.

From the EEOC:

Conectiv was the general contractor and property owner on a project to build a new energy power plant on the site of a defunct steel plant. Construction on the project began in January 2002 and the plant was operating by the end of October 2003. The EEOC charged in the lawsuit that the defendants, acting as joint employers, subjected a class of African American employees to racial slurs and graffiti as well as threats by hangman’s nooses.

The EEOC said that harassment included a life size noose made of heavy rope hung from a beam in a class member’s work area for at least 10 days before it was removed; the regular use of the "N-word"; racially offensive comments made to black individuals, including "I think everybody should own one"; "Black people are no good and you can't trust them"; and "Black people can't read or write." Additionally, racist graffiti was present written in portable toilets, with terms such as "coon"; "If u not white u not right"; "White power"; "KKK"; and "I love the Ku Klux Klan."
That's just sad.

Here's to hoping the employees who were involved take some of that money, start up their own construction business and put Conectiv and their subcontractors out on the street.