A river transportation company will pay $40,000 to resolve a race harassment lawsuit filed in Louisiana, federal authorities say.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said it filed suit alleging employees at American River Transportation Co. (ARTCO), headquartered in Decatur, Ill., displayed nooses in the workplace and racially harassed a Black deckhand.
ARTCO provides river transportation services, including barges and a shipyard, to its parent company, Archer Daniels Midland, and to third-party clients.
According to the EEOC’s suit, filed in 2019, a Black deckhand was subjected to racial harassment because of his race when a co-worker used racial epithets and brought a rope fashioned into a noose aboard the vessel where they both worked.
Despite early complaints to the ship’s captain about the verbal harassment, the abuse continued and ultimately resulted in the noose incident, the EEOC said. T
The harassment continued until the deckhand was able to transfer to another one of ARTCO’s vessels, the EEOC said.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination because of race. The EEOC filed its suit (Civil Action No. 2:19-cv-12933) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana after first attempting to resolve the case through its conciliation process.
Under a two-year consent decree entered on May 17, ARTCO will pay the employee $40,000 in compensatory damages and will also conduct training regarding Title VII, review and update its policies, post a notice prohibiting discrimination, and provide regular reports to the EEOC.
Source: EEOC
Topics Lawsuits
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